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

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

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

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad