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

As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies 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 shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad