The United States Under the New Administration Seems Oddly Recognizable to Observers from China

As the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”

The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.

But over the past year after the president was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”

Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.

The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in America that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.

“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”

Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.

However since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.

‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’

The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.

Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.

Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.

“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.

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

“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.

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. But now, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”

“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.

Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”

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

On Monday, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in the private sector.

Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.

An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”

The professor observes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”

Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad