Trump's United States Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine 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 the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

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

Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, 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 state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad