The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

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

Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad