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

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But over the past year after the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.

But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US 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 Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse 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 China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad