Trump's America During the New Administration Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When 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 carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

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

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad