As Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not only considering what humor to deliver. She also weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material in which I openly disparage authorities … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost a decade, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or people with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. When they reached a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that improved relations with China may help the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at Peking University. “The president, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit without equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, having fled China because of harassment from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as too,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for ideals, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies deemed essential for national security. The deals have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled inherently. Administrators, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
