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

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, 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 top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad