The United States Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad