The America Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from the East

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”

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

Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad