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

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.

The president has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of pressure from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear in decline.”

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

On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America 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 the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad