When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved news. US courts have halted or reversed many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
