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

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. 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. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

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

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad