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

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.

However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something 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 that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … 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,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad