When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However in the year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations 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.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. He has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as well,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have made some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
