Trump's America Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of force.

But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous 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 dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad