Trump's America During the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting 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 that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad