Trump's America During the New Administration Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad