Trump's America Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad