As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, in the current administration, it appears as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in the East today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in US companies has also drawn comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
