The United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

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

Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad