Trump's United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.

However in the year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges 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, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad