When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, 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 could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it appears that America is shifting in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the grassroots in order to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in America since 2019, after escaping China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face 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 China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
