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

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

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

Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

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

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment 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 stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad