Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad