As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. Following years of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to speak for this piece. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
