The America During the New Administration Feels Oddly Recognizable to Those Watching from China

When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material where I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior from China.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

However in the year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”

Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.

The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”

Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent the same levels of violence.

But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

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

Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party critic, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.

Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.

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

Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “America isn't a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.

Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.

On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.

An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse 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 while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad