Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad