Chinese People Keep Comparing Trump's Authoritarianism to Mao and Xi Jinping

A charismatic leader comes to power on a wave of populist rage against elites, dismissive of pesky ideas about civil liberties and free speech, and supported by a cadre of yes-men who rally around bright-red imagery. Sound familiar? As the New York Times reports, Chinese people inside and outside the communist country are comparing the beginning of Donald Trump's second administration to the so-called Cultural Revolution, the decade-long period of unrest that ushered longtime chairman of the Chinese Communist Party Mao Zedong into power nearly 60 years ago. "Coming from an authoritarian state, we know that dictatorship is not just a system — it is, at its core, the pursuit of power," Wang Jian, a Chinese journalist based in Japan, wrote in a since-deleted X post cited by the newspaper. "We also know that the Cultural Revolution was about dismantling institutions to expand control." Zhang Wenmin, another Chinese reporter, now lives in exile in the US after being forced to flee China ... Read full article.