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

When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”

The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.

However over the past year since the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”

Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.

“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to America, albeit without the same levels of force.

However since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.

‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’

The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he once faced in China. He resided in America since 2019, after escaping the country because of pressure from the authorities.

Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage seeking to divide the US.

“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.

Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.

“Regarding targeting dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.

The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”

“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.

Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”

The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.

On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.

There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.

Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”

The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”

Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad