Trump's America During the New Administration Seems Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a habit from China.”

Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad