Trump's United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

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

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot 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 declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad