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

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. 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 think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad