Trump's United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.

However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies 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 purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad