When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the government,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” going to talks, demonstrations, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new climate in the US which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions early on in office, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage seeking to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have made certain stakeholders concerned that America is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. US courts have halted or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression here: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
