The United States Under Trump's Second Term Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

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

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad