Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Seems Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad