The America Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’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 environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.

In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad