When the standup comedian, a rising performer, takes her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. Additionally, she weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think it's a habit acquired back home.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in Shanghai for almost ten years, departing in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s library system.
However over the past year after the president returned to office for the second time, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Journalists are targeted. Establishments are attacked.
Trump 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 recently, the camaraderie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed governance models was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation become more open, in the current administration, it appears that the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” said a constitutional law expert, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in the country decades past.”
Since the administration unleashed what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, 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 execute the leader’s will, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However after the upheaval of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the country, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America for several years, having fled China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – he encountered a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from fellow social media users, instead of the state, but that kind of public monitoring also has parallels with the East.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar 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 educators, a form of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “The US is no longer a ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see the US as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn parallels with China, where the distinction between government and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated 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. The deals have made some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, something that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled legal system.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
