The America Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Familiar to Observers from the East

When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.

But in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”

Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.

Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.

“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to America, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.

But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’

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

A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others 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 being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.

“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.

His backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.

“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies 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 declining.”

The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.

Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.

Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, 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 observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad