When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage authorities … I believe this is a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in the East today as well,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in the country is dangerous. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned 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. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while numerous scholars in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
