Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if 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 believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad