Trump's United States During the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

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 see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies 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, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad