Trump's United States Under the New Administration Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad