The America Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms 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.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad