Trump's United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

However over the past year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump 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 the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad