The United States During the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked 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 could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

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

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, 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 China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad