Trump's America During the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.

“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” 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 concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled judiciary.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad