Is Donald Trump the spiritual heir to Mao Zedong?

Following Donald Trump’s return to the White House, evaluations of his leadership and the controversies surrounding him have only intensified. With his first 100 days in office now past, Trump has been quick to praise his own performance — yet public opinion polls paint a less flattering picture. As early as his first term, a British scholar described him as a modern-day heir to Mao Zedong, China’s infamous autocratic leader. He argued that Trump resembled Mao in three key ways: denial of facts and manipulation of truth; a taste for personality cults and individualism; and a penchant for holding two contradictory ideas simultaneously.

This observation, though unconventional, is thought-provoking. Today’s Trump seems to embody these traits even more vividly. For instance, his statements on reciprocal tariffs shift back and forth, riddled with contradictions that seem perfectly natural to him. His recent comments about becoming a kind of “Pope”, and his use of AI to generate an image of himself as the Pope, reflect a deep hunger for idolatry and personal glorification. However, to truly assess whether Trump is a successor to Mao, a more detailed comparison is required.

In Trump’s first 100 days, his push for global reciprocal tariffs and his attempts to mediate the Russia-Ukraine conflict have significantly tarnished America’s global image. Domestically, many American voters are disillusioned. But arguably the most controversial — and personally damaging — initiative has been his war on the federal government’s “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) policies, spearheaded by Elon Musk’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency. Targeting not only federal agencies but also universities, this ideological campaign has been labelled by some, especially Chinese commentators, as a kind of “American Cultural Revolution”.

Let us examine the similarities and differences between this so-called American Cultural Revolution and Mao’s original Cultural Revolution in China, to see whether Trump truly qualifies as Mao’s spiritual heir.

For many, the phrase “American Cultural Revolution” is a metaphor meant to highlight the extreme, unorthodox and anti-establishment nature of Trump’s anti-DEI policies, especially in areas like speech, governance and political struggle.

Superficially, Trump’s American Cultural Revolution and Mao’s Cultural Revolution share several similarities. First, in terms of the social forces driving the movement, both drew support from outsiders or marginal figures within the system. Trump selected Elon Musk — a billionaire tech mogul with no prior political experience — who in turn hired teams of young, often ungraduated university students to drive the agenda. Mao relied on the Gang of Four — his wife Jiang Qing, a former actress with no party position, and three lesser-known figures from working-class or intellectual backgrounds. Mao later mobilised rebellious youth and students — essentially outsiders within the system — to shake up the political order.

Second, both movements aimed to dismantle establishment elites. Trump targets the so-called “deep state” in Washington, expressing deep distrust of mainstream media and Democratic institutions. He routinely labels them “enemies of the people” or agents of “corruption”, using populist rhetoric to attack traditional political, media and business elites. Mao, for his part, explicitly called for the overthrow of party and non-party elites, promoting mass “struggle” campaigns to delegitimise their authority.

Third, both employed similar methods of political struggle. While Trump has not unleashed mass movements akin to Mao’s Red Guards, he has effectively used social media to rally supporters, fostering a personality cult and a form of direct political mobilisation. He has also aggressively attacked the press, accusing it of spreading “fake news”, and moved to strip political opponents — like Biden and Pompeo — of classified documents or security clearances. Through Musk’s agency, entire federal departments have been gutted of DEI programmes, like the US Agency for International Development, the US Agency for Global Media, and the Department of Education have been cut across the board. In contrast, Mao’s tactics were far more brutal, involving physical violence and mass persecution of perceived enemies, including within the Communist Party itself.

Finally, in terms of ideological extremism, both movements exhibit radical tendencies. Trump’s “America First” doctrine promotes a sense of cultural and economic superiority, manifested through trade wars and strict immigration policies — an appeal to extreme nationalism. Mao’s Cultural Revolution propagated a fanatical revolutionary purity, demanding ideological conformity and outlawing all dissent.

In this light, the term “American Cultural Revolution” expresses the deep anxiety many feel about Trump’s combative leadership and his disruption of America’s political order. However, it remains a metaphor. A real Cultural Revolution cannot happen in the US. The US political system, grounded in constitutional checks and balances, makes it impossible for Trump to achieve the same absolute power Mao wielded. He cannot silence the mainstream media. Many of his executive orders face judicial review and have been struck down as unconstitutional.

Furthermore, there are two fundamental differences between Trump’s “revolution” and Mao’s.

First, Trump targets an abstract enemy — the “deep state” — with no clear individual antagonist. Mao had a specific political rival: Liu Shaoqi, the second-most powerful man in the Party. Second, while Trump’s anti-DEI push may overcorrect certain excesses, it still appeals to basic human instincts. Mao’s Cultural Revolution, by contrast, sought to remake human nature itself — an explicitly anti-human project.

Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to eliminate “capitalist roaders” within the Communist Party, as well as intellectuals and other perceived enemies of socialism. Liu Shaoqi, as the representative of this “capitalist line”, was Mao’s primary internal adversary. Mao did not hesitate to mobilise the masses in a violent political purge, aiming to destroy entire classes of people and ideas. Trump, though he demonises Democrats, the press, and opponents, has not — and cannot — mobilise society to carry out large-scale purges. His struggle is conducted through culture wars and political rhetoric, not through mass mobilisation or systemic violence.

Mao sought to refashion society by destroying existing cultural values and reshaping individuals into “selfless socialist men”. This goal was inherently anti-human and catastrophically destructive. Trump, on the other hand, though intent on challenging the progressive values symbolised by DEI and political correctness, largely resonates with the sentiments of traditionalist voters, especially working-class whites. His “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement reflects a backlash against multiculturalism and leftist extremism. Rather than transform human nature, Trump aligns himself with certain facets of it.

In this sense, while Trump’s policies and political style may be provocative and extreme, they lack the totalising, transformative ambitions of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. The term “American Cultural Revolution” is meaningful only in a metaphorical sense. At its core, America remains a constitutional democracy where no one man can wield unchecked power. Thus, Trump may be considered a spiritual successor to Mao, but he can never truly carry Mao’s torch. Not Trump — nor even China’s own Xi Jinping — qualifies as a true heir to Mao’s revolutionary legacy.

This should offer some reassurance: even under Trump’s rule, the future of the US is not entirely bleak, because within its constitutional framework, there will always be counterbalancing forces to restrain him.

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