Trump's America Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year since the president was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.

However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, 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 … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad