Trump's America Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad