Trump's America Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.

But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in the country, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”

Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.

However after the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.

In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

His backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.

“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”

“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.

Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.

There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad