Trump's United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.

However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, 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 more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad