When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it's not captured for social media. “I would never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, demonstrations, and exploring the city's library system.
However in the year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine the elite … reminiscent of what happened in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see American governance through the lens of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit without the same levels of force.
However after the turmoil of the early months under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled the country due to pressure from the authorities.
In September, after the death of a public figure, he posted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil public speech about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in America of pupils informing against teachers, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in China is dangerous. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, that guide appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of the nation's governance, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but post-COVID, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by America, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the distinction between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies deemed vital to national security. These moves have left some investors nervous that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have halted or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
