Trump's United States During the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, 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 would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad