The America During the New Administration Seems Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad