The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced 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 hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad