The America During the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of violence.

But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with the East.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad