The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences 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 approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established 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 will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad