Trump's United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“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 trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

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

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

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 campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad