When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump was elected again, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the country, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng resided in the US since 2019, after escaping China due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
His pile on came from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at a US 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 type of monitoring that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America isn't a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. US courts have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
