Trump's United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.

But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad