When Vickie Wang, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just thinking about what humor to tell. Additionally, she carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I think this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she moved to America. Upon arrival, she embarked on an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
However over the past year since the president was elected for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, whereas in the US I find myself 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 face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He has described him as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of hope in America that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China decades past.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or purging organizations of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to America, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US for several years, having fled the country due to pressure from officials.
In September, following the passing of a public figure, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – who lost their jobs as a result of expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy seeking to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from online peers, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“Regarding going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she said, adding that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US is no longer some kind of god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by America, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has prompted comparisons with China, where the distinction between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it will take an investor in a startup focused on rare earth processing, after taking similar stakes in other companies it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is embarking on a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of Trump’s actions, something that is unthinkable in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America could descend into the worst crisis of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that although many intellectuals in the country were shocked to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, Americans are beginning to adopt measures that were once confined to more authoritarian countries. An academic at a US university who was previously outspoken on US-China issues declined to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
