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

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city'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 environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US 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 after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad