Trump's America During the New Administration Feels Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump 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 diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

But after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, after escaping 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 – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable 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 promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”

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

On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad