That space, limited as it was, has been virtually shut down under Mr. el-Sisi, who came to power in a 2013 military takeover. He governs through a small clique of advisers, mostly drawn from the military, the security services and his family, that enjoys huge economic clout, sees the world through a security prism and has sought to stamp out every breath of dissent. Egyptians can be arrested for politically incorrect Facebook posts.

“I would frankly feel safer talking politics in Damascus than in Cairo,” said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. Mr. el-Sisi’s personalist autocracy, he continued, “tries to dominate the public space so completely that nobody dares say anything, even in private, that might be deemed dissent by those in power.”

“That fear is what all totalitarian systems try to instill: that even when the system cannot eavesdrop on you, it can hear you.”

A government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Mr. el-Sisi’s approach has met with little resistance from President Trump, who is scheduled to host him at the White House next week. Where Washington once was a modest brake on the excesses of Egypt’s strongmen, Mr. Trump has lavished praise on Mr. el-Sisi in previous encounters — even complimenting his taste in footwear — but has said little about the tightening vise of repression in Egypt.

The United States has not had an ambassador in Cairo since July 2017.

Mr. el-Sisi’s governing circle is dominated by military men he trusts. The army’s Engineering Authority has been charged with overseeing ambitious projects worth billions of dollars, including an extension of the Suez Canal that was completed in 2015 and a new administrative capital that is under construction in the desert east of Cairo.