When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in that year. By 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people 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, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have made some investors concerned that the US is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
