The America During the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad