The America During Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.

But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

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

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad