Trump's United States Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.

However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see 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 those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … 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 in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad