The United States Under the New Administration Seems Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad