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

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics 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 from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

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

On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad