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

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.

His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

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 reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”

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

On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms 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 major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad