The America During the New Administration Seems Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era 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 refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad