The United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from the East

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’

The most profound parallel 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. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

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

“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad