The America Under the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Observers from the East

As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

Wang, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.

However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her fears mirror a new climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if the US is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in China decades past.”

Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of force.

But after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The deepest similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.

In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.

Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.

“In terms of targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is observed in China now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. However, “America isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”

The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”

Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad