Trump's United States During the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

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

Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets 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 impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad