The United States During the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad