As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in the Big Apple, she's not just thinking about which jokes to tell. She also weighs what subjects to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. Or if she does, she ensures it's not recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content in which I directly criticize authorities … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on freedom,” attending talks, protests, and exploring the city's library system.
But in the year since the president returned to office again, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns reflect a new climate in America which many Chinese, or people who have lived in the country, perceive as eerily similar. Opponents are ostracised. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions recently, the camaraderie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models was evident. And after decades of hope in the US that closer ties with China may help the growing nation to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” said a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics via the perspective of the Cultural Revolution. Whether it is the rallying of young people to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing institutions of perceived enemies, Trump as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But after the turmoil of the initial period under Trump subsided, a new, distinct type of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems recognizable to numerous Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP critic, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in America since 2019, having fled China because of pressure from officials.
Last fall, following the passing of a public figure, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined such a thing would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, rather than the government, but such of public monitoring also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring open discourse on topics that are sensitive … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, an associate professor at a US university. “This is that you see in the East today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is dangerous. However, “America is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse appears dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about the nation's governance, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies in environmental protection and developing electric cars and tech investment,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, as represented by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of stakes in American firms has also drawn parallels with the East, where the line between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, the US government stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. These moves have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, commented: “America might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions that were once associated with repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
