The United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. 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 think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

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

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad