The America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

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 his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

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

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 somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels 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 specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad