The America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy 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 bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth 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 the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

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

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

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

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad