The America During Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie 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 become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

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

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears 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 sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase 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 demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad