The United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

But over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America 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 constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad