The United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

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

On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad