The United States During the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.

However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing 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, find eerily similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.

“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’

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

A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened across the board.”

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

Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable 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 promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have made some investors 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 the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad