Trump's United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad