The United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once 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 said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad