The America Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.

However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”

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

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad