The United States Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China
As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad