The main difference being that Trump can pull crap like that and the resulting firestorm over what he said either rolls off or makes him stronger, somehow. If Wu is actually trying to pull a Trump campaign copycat he is going to learn really quickly how un-Trump he actually is.
John's basically the perfect form of anti-charisma and he's incapable of uttering statements (planned or otherwise) for which the resulting "BUT ACTUALLY"s actually help him. If you can't do either of those things trying to make the circus that defined much of the Trump campaign work for you is going to blow up in your face with the force of 1000 moonrocks.
...Also it doesn't help that Wu is very much riding the opposite cultural wave that Trump rode in on. Without the counter culture right wing wave that Trump rode, he's probably looking at a repeat of 2012. John's aligned himself with far left IdPol (at least notionally) which is neither counter culture, nor particularly a wave that alone can catapult you to an elected position.
But boy howdy if Wu is intentionally trying to pull a Trump, buckle up. That's the best of all possible outcomes for us.