When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just considering what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
Wang, 39, resided in Shanghai for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and delving into New York’s public library.
However over the past year since Donald Trump was elected for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears mirror a new political reality in America which many Chinese, or those with experience in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He has described Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration has calmed, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the country, which in different ways seems 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.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, ended up in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. He resided in the US for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was “despicable”. Similar to others nationwide – who were fired as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … It's appearing here,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something that you see in China today as well,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a type of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We once viewed America as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, seems to be in decline.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on mineral refinement, following comparable shares in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left certain stakeholders nervous that America is entering a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, the founder of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning DEI policies and free speech on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, which are selected by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
