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

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad