As Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He's called him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it would become a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
