The America During the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.

However since the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.

“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

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

“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.

Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

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

Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

The government's purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

Isaac Stone Fish, who established 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 it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”

Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad