Trump's America Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from the East

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.

However in the year after the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain 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 required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad