Trump's United States During the New Administration Seems Strangely Recognizable to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

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

Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

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, 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 many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad