Mao's whole reign was a shit show, whether it was the beginning, the middle, or the end, and it is a similar process beginning here now.
Again, I was referring specifically to the Cultural Revolution, and it was indeed a very nasty time. Institutions were attacked; experts of all kinds were scorned. Learning was discouraged. Groups of feral yobbos took control of as much as they could, with the government's blessing.
So as you say: like what happened under Trump here.
As for the issue of "Mao's whole reign"... That's more complicated than you suggest. First of all, he was not a monarch, and so did not have a "reign". He was a warlord who eventually became a dictator. Initially, he was an anti-imperialist, in contrast to, say, Chiang Kai-she. But as they say, power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
But to say, "Mao was a bad man, and all the Chinese came to hate him" would be exceedingly simplistic. You also need to remember that the Chinese culture is much older than ours. Chinese people don't necessarily look at things the way we do, in many ways.