The America Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad