Trump's United States During the New Administration Seems Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

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

But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

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

On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned 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 the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield 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. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad