The United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades 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 shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad