As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share content where I directly criticize authorities … I believe this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, protests, and delving into New York’s library system.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent the same levels of force.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned Chinese Communist party critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled China due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to take precautions previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
