As Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly material in which I openly disparage authorities … I think this is a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
But over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears mirror a new climate in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The president demands total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in the US that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers see American governance via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to carry out presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to America for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is dangerous. However, “America is no longer some kind of god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed essential for the country's safety. These moves have made certain stakeholders concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, who established of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it would remain more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to government demands regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
