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

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without equivalent degrees of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.

Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government stated it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad