Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad