Trump's America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly 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 democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of force.

But since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“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, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad