As Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands total allegiance. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with China could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with China.
“In terms of targeting dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, at least in private, 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 after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still 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 reporting solely on approved information. US courts have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
