When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the early months of the new administration has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as well,” she added, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
