The America During the New Administration Feels Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from the East

When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in America for several years, having fled China because of pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

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

On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad