When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material where I openly disparage authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However over the past year after Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect an emerging climate in America which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to marginalize or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he once faced in China. Deng resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – many of whom were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I never imagined such a thing could happen in America – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and starting to surveil public speech on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China today as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, exemplified by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with China, where the line between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it will take an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be more free, more open, and liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
