The United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – 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 espionage attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't 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 since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

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

Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad