Trump's United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

But over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad