The United States During the New Administration Seems Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, 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. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without equivalent degrees of violence.

However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, 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 resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge 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 China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad