Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “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, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad