Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.

But in the year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Since the administration initiated 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 presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad