Trump's United States During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

But in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences 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 approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once 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 to criticise Xi now than say anything bad