Trump's United States Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad