The America During Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that 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, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring 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 political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted 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 new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions 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 piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad