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

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.

However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad