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

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad