The America During the New Administration Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad