Trump's America Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made some investors nervous 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. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad