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

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.

However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in America since 2019, having fled China because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.

His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US'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 promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.

Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad