When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not only considering which jokes to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she ensures it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
However in the year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she says. “In China, I knew the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this could happen in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash came from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in the East now as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of its history, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
