The United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

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

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad