When Vickie Wang, an emerging comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only considering what humor to deliver. Additionally, she carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in openly criticizing the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood the boundaries, whereas in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between both figures of countries with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than vice versa.
“America is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed American governance via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit without equivalent degrees of force.
But after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in America for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs for making negative comments regarding him – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has parallels 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, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something observed in China today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in US companies has prompted comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
