When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not only thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publish openly material where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a learned behavior from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
But in the year since Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns mirror an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“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. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, since public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
