The Authoritarian Déjà-vu
A selection of rhyming similarities between China and the U.S. at this moment in history
If Dad wasn’t cremated, he would’ve turned in his grave. So would millions of immigrants who escaped fascist or authoritarian regimes and ended up here in the U.S. as political refugees. They took huge risks, gave up the lives they had in their hometowns, and crossed oceans in search of freedom from repression. They would never had believed their eyes if they lived to see what’s happening right now.
The descend into authoritarianism in the U.S. since Donald Trump started his second term in the White House has been swift. Many of the so-called policies, signed into law with a Sharpie pen on executive orders, were vindictive—often cruel—acts targeted at silencing the voice of dissent and punishing those whom Trump perceives as his enemies because they had bruised his ego.
Behind the flurries of E.O.s that distract our attention, the Musk-led unconstitutional Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) has been gutting government agencies by laying off millions of employees whose jobs were to protect Americans in all aspects of life. I believe this was done with the intention to allow billionaires to privatize government functions, as well as install loyalists who would only dare say “yes” to the Trump-Vance-Musk regime—with Putin and the Heritage Foundation pulling the strings from behind the curtain.
The Authoritarian Playbook
Step by step, the regime moves fast to implement the Standard Operating Procedures (S.O.P.s) from the Authoritarian Playbook. Here are some examples:
Silencing dissents by arresting and “disappearing” them without trial
Installing loyalists who will implement unlawful acts by the regime, including law enforcement and military units that will help the regime defy court orders
Privatizing government functions to enrich corrupt politicians and the billionaires (the merger of state and corporate power is a prominent feature of fascism)
Strengthening the propaganda machine, with state-owned media channels and spokespeople who spew lies constantly.
The Mind Control Model
Understanding the mechanism behind authoritarianism requires us to also understand mind control, as it is the most potent force that collectively hypnotized the 77 million people who voted for Trump (many of whom are regretting1 right now).
For that, I would recommend looking in to the B.I.T.E. model that
created. Dr. Hassan is an internationally recognized expert in mind control. Having been deeply involved with the Moonies cult in the 70s, he has worked tirelessly for over four decades to help cult members and their families leave the damaging groups that have hijacked their lives and sense of self.According to his B.I.T.E. model2, mind-control organizations, such as Trump’s MAGA, seek to control their members through the following:
B = Behavior
I = Information
T = Thoughts
E = Emotions
In his book “The Cult of Trump,” Dr. Hassan explains how even sane, rational, well-adjusted people can be persuaded and indoctrinated to believe the most outrageous ideas through an array of social psychology methods, resulting in a group of fiercely loyal and obedient members.
Seeing so many people waking up to the lies that Trump has spewed in order to get their votes, I believe that it’s time to put aside the schadenfreude that some of us have felt (#FAFO). Instead, what we can do, according to Dr. Hassan, is to provide a safe psychological space for them to land (no shaming or ostracizing), so they can remove themselves from the undue influence that they had been put under. Of course, I’m speaking in broad terms. I know what a big challenge it is to actually do that with people whom we know and love who have voted for Trump.
Dr. Hassan’s suggestion is to ask them questions that allow them to reflect on what they had held sacred or blindly believed in. (I did that with my Trumper mom, with a slight degree of success in making her think twice about her assumptions.)
Another suggestion is to cite another cult that they might be familiar with as a point of reference, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This will make them think if there are any similarities between the mind control tactics of the CCP and MAGA.
Rhyming Similarities
Speaking of the Communist Party of China, I’m seeing a lot of parallels between its Authoritarian Playbook and the one used by the Trump administration. As
writes, “History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes.”Below is a sample of the rhyming similarities between China and the U.S. at this moment in history.
Propaganda machines
Almost all media channels in China are state-run. Media that criticize the government are not allowed to exist. If a private company owns a media channel, they must toe the party line. The Trump administration has sued CBS and ABC in two separate law suits in attempts to squash any opposition voices. Meanwhile, Fox news continues to act as the defacto state-run media along with Truth Social, X and other pro-Trump media outlets.
Talking heads
When I was a correspondent in China back in the mid-90s, I had to sit through boring press briefings held by their spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although I was just a cadet reporter, I intuitively knew not to trust a single word that came out of the talking head’s mouth. Everything was a distortion of truth or an outright lie. Nowadays, when I listen to Karoline Hewitt speak to reporters at White House press conferences, I find myself having the same reaction (rolling my eyes) as when I was a reporter in China.
Rewriting/Erasing history
We’re witnessing the erasure of U.S. history in an effort to discredit and devalue the vast groups of people who do not fit into the narrow definition of people who deserve to have power—straight white rich people who support Trump.
If you do not belong to this group of people and still believe that somehow Trump will save or spare you from misery, it’s time to wake up.
The erasure of history is particularly triggering, as I have witnessed how that happened in China as well as Hong Kong over the years. It feels like I’m living a surreal gaslighting nightmare all over again.
Deleting important figures from history books and public displays of art is an S.O.P. from the Authoritarian Playbook.
Let me share with you three pictures to illustrate my point. Below, you will find three versions of the same oil painting, commissioned by the Communist Party of China to depict the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Titled “Founding Ceremony of the Nation,” it was originally painted by Dong Xiwen in 1953. Later, the painting was replicated and revised multiple times all the way to 1979. The images of officials at the top of the government who fell out of Mao’s favor were ordered to be deleted:
Lessons from Hong Kong
Changing or omitting facts in history books is another S.O.P. Growing up, the history textbooks in Hong Kong’s schools did not mention the uprisings by Communist party members and sympathizers against British colonial rule in the 60s. We learned more about the modern history of China and the world than our own modern history. The colonial education was aimed at producing apolitical citizens so they would focus on making money rather than questioning the government.
After Hong Kong was handed over to China in 1997, there were attempts to promote “national education” in schools to instill patriotism and love for the “motherland.” A student-led movement broke out in 2012 in opposition of this attempt. Unfortunately, the mass protests3 ended up in police crackdown.
In the ensuing years, an increasingly number of schools adopted “patriotic education” that attempts to instill “love for the nation” and the meaning of “national security.” Those that praise the Chinese leader Xi Jinping the loudest (including kindergartens) have risen in status and highly praised in the Chinese state media.
In 2022, high school textbooks for liberal studies started to include the statement that Hong Kong was never a British colony, despite the fact that it was governed by the British government for more than 150 years4.
The mass, systematic erasure of American history
The erasure and distortion of indigenous history from American school books is a known fact. And so is the omission of Blacks, women, and other ethnic minorities from educational materials and public archives. But none of that beats the scale of erasure we’re witnessing right now.
The wife-beater, unqualified Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered the removal of every image of Major General Jeannie Leavitt, the first ever female fighter pilot in the U.S., from the Pentagon. But this is just one example among the tens of thousands of images to be removed. According to a database obtained by the Associated Press, as many as 28,000-100,000 images of distinguished war heroes are flagged for removal across every military branch as the Department of Defense actively works to purge diversity, equity and inclusion content5.
Across the board, federal agencies have flagged hundreds of words to be limited or avoided on government websites and documents. These words, which reflect the diversity of our population, are shown in this partial list gathered by The New York Times on March 7, 2025:
👉Tell me, how many of these words apply to you or your experience? How does the erasure of those words make you feel?
🪶Dear readers, if you know of any other history erasures, please add them in the comment section below.
Dumbing Down of the Population
China has been using the “Fool People’s Policy” for decades. Its leaders have always known how efficient it is to weld control when the country’s population is ignorant. In addition to the use of its propaganda machines, the Communist Party also strictly controls the flow of information from the moment a child is born. This is done through the state-run education system, whose purpose is to indoctrinate people with the state-sanctioned ideology, as well as instill absolute obedience and loyalty. With the development of modern-day technology, the information control extends to the the gigantic surveillance project of “The Great Firewall,” which sifts out all “undesirable” information from the Internet to prevent citizens’ exposure to historical facts and current news that might weaken support for the government.
In the U.S., the deliberate banning of books in libraries and schools, plus the executive order that calls for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)—the nation’s only federal agency that provides funds for America’s libraries, constitute a willful plan to dumb down the population so that even more people will become susceptible to mind control by the government.
In terms of controlling information to bring it in line with the regime’s ideological leaning, we are seeing the use of generative AI within government agencies and branches. According to a WIRED report,6 the U.S. Army has started to use a prototype generative AI tool to identify references to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA). These references will be slated for removal from training materials so that they will fall in line with Trump’s executive order titled “Restoring America’s Fighting Force.”
If they can harness the power of AI to execute such a purge within the army, what else will they not do with AI?
The Irony of Fleeing
After almost 50 years “in exile” from my home country, China, it seems to be a big irony that I ended up in a country that used to be a haven for the political repressed and is now turning into a dictatorship.
In my previous article “The Great American Exodus,” I mentioned Americans who have moved abroad to escape this political hellscape. Some do so for the sake of their children’s future.
Looking back at my family’s history, it wasn’t that long ago that my parents escaped Communist China for a better future for their children.
Was it all worth it? Well, I had chosen to live in the U.S., whereas my brother had chosen to stay in Hong Kong, which has lost its freedom of speech and the little bit of democracy it had ever tasted. It seems that we’re both transported back to Ground Zero, albeit separated by thousands of miles.
For a few decades, we did gain some “stolen time” and got to breathe some freedom. And that was a good experience.
But now, I’ve suddenly realized that wherever you go, the country you land on may turn into an authoritarian/fascist dictatorship. Look around the world, and you can find an increasing tendency to turn away from and destroy democracy. Think about the history of the country you’re in. Perhaps it was run by a dictator or an emperor not that many decades ago.
Perhaps it’s a pipe dream to expect to live in a land of milk and honey that lasts forever.
As long as greed exists, there will always be injustice and power grabs in the world.
I do believe in human agency, and our ultimate choice is to decide what kind of attitude with which we want to live our lives and love our fellow human beings.
We may inherit vastly different conditions from the circumstances of our birth. Serendipity may land us in an environment that may or may not be of our own choosing. But ultimately, we have a responsibility for ourselves, as well as the people and communities we share our lives with.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
— Viktor Frankl
Thank you for reading Lily Pond! I appreciate that you are interested in hearing my perspective. Lily Pond isn’t always about politics. In recent months, however, it’s been difficult not to speak out against the gross injustices and illegal acts by the Trump administration that threaten human rights—not just within the U.S. but around the world. My blog will not always talk about politics, but I will always write about experiences and insights that can help you, my readers, feel a little less alone, and hopefully, about things that spur positive actions—even if that means just clicking the share button and sharing this with someone you care about. If you haven’t subscribed to my newsletter, please do. And if you are feeling inspired or generous, please click the button below and buy me a cup of tea. Your sharing and contribution will be greatly appreciated!
This video by Mary Trump contains a good round-up of video footage and interviews of people who voted for Trump but are now feeling betrayed:
Read more about the B.I.T.E. model here:
https://freedomofmind.com/cult-mind-control/bite-model-pdf-download/
Hong Kong students and residents reject national-education classes, 2012
https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/hong-kong-students-and-residents-reject-national-education-classes-2012
Hong Kong: New school books claim territory was not a British colony
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-61810263
New Hong Kong textbooks ‘will claim city never was a British colony’
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/15/new-hong-kong-textbooks-will-claim-city-never-was-a-british-colony
War heroes and military firsts are among 26,000 images flagged for removal in Pentagon’s DEI purge
https://apnews.com/article/dei-purge-images-pentagon-diversity-women-black-8efcfaec909954f4a24bad0d49c78074
The US Army Is Using ‘CamoGPT’ to Purge DEI From Training Materials
https://www.wired.com/story/the-us-army-is-using-camogpt-to-purge-dei-from-training-materials/
So comprehensive and important! Thank you for putting this all together. The parallels and warnings are chilling. We need to wake America TFU
Wow Lily,
This is so powerful and well done as painful as it is. Your points are excellent. "To choose one's way." I am going to dig in more. I have to search for you, I missed some of your incredible work. I hope to catch up. Thank you!!!