Trump's America Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Those Watching from China

As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”

Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.

But over the past year since the president was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to America, though without the same levels of force.

However after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’

The deepest parallel between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – 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 such a thing would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”

“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

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

On Monday, authorities announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face 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 notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad