When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, takes her platform in New York, she's not only thinking about what humor to tell. She also weighs which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in directly attacking the government,” she explained. Or if she ventures there, she ensures it's not captured for online platforms. “I would never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
But over the past year after the president was elected for the second time, there's been a noticeable shift in the environment, she notes. “Back home, I knew where the line was, while here I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people who have lived in the country, find disturbingly similar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Journalists are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“America is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” said Zhang Qianfan, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country decades past.”
Since Trump initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has brought disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent the same levels of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, an unfamiliar, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which variously seems recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Has Become Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between the US today and China is the crackdown on free speech.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in his homeland. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from the authorities.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy seeking to create division.
“That event was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing could happen in the United States – something that should only happen in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“In terms of targeting those who disagree and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … It's appearing here,” said an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “That’s something that you see in China now as too,” she added, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on teachers, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself used to look to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on internal affairs in the country is risky. But now, “America is no longer a god for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, now perceive it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of stakes in US companies has prompted parallels with China, where the distinction between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, authorities stated it would become an investor in a new company specialising in rare earth processing, following comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that America is embarking on a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
There are still major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised information. US courts have blocked or reversed many of Trump’s actions, an action that would be impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, said: “America might face the worst crisis of its history, far more severe than it is now, and it would remain more free, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that although many intellectuals in China were surprised to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They can’t afford defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions previously confined to repressive regimes. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He said: “Honestly, I fear of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
