When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. 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 economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, after escaping the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding targeting dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East now as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear declining.”
The government's acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder 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 would remain more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
