The America Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

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

Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

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

Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad