As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I'd never publish openly content in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without the same levels of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
