Trump's United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, 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 more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

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

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad