The America Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But in the year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, 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 the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy 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 cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad