Trump's America Under the New Administration Seems Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad