The America Under the New Administration Feels Strangely Familiar to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year since Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.

But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. He has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad