The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad