Trump's America During the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics 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 those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

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

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face 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 the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

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