The United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems 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 appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad