The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

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

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad