Trump's America During the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth 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 absent the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad