Trump's America Under the New Administration Seems Strangely Recognizable to Those Watching from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here 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 China, find eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad