When Vickie Wang, an emerging performer, takes the stage in New York, she's not only thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she embarked on an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging political reality in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems that America is being pulled in China's path, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways seems recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
In September, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His backlash originated from online peers, rather than the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America isn't some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities announced it will take an investor in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised news. American judiciary have halted or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I fear of suppression here: I genuinely feel less afraid criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
