When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those who have lived in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on US-China issues refused to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
