The America During the New Administration Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual 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 attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era 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 defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad