Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

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

His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be 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 frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad