The America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad