The United States Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad