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

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders 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 the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “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 liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad