The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad