The United States Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country decades past.”

Since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.

A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

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

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”

The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad