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

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

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 his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad