The America During the New Administration Feels Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident 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 came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad