When Vickie Wang, a rising comedic talent, takes her platform in the Big Apple, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly attacking the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I openly disparage the government … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in 2022. In 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 New York’s public library.
However over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she says. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect an emerging climate in America which many Chinese, or those who have lived in China, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Enemies are ostracised. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
The president has not been shy 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 on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. Following years of hope in the US that improved relations with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, though without the same levels of force.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this could happen in the United States – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East now as well,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because openly discussing internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “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, that guide seems to have become less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing correct policies in environmental protection and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company specialising in mineral refinement, after taking similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for national security. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of state intervention in private industry.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on approved information. US courts have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, something that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
The professor observes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to official requests regarding DEI policies and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, which are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures previously confined to more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
