The America During the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, 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 for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

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

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era 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 Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad