Trump's America During Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad