Trump's America During the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

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

“Regarding going after 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 a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad