Trump's United States During the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure 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 were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad