When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she's not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I would never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, lived in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she dove into an intense period of “overindulging on freedom,” attending lectures, protests, and exploring the city's public library.
But over the past year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears mirror an emerging climate in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with diametrically opposed governance models became clear. And after decades of hope in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated Zhang Qianfan, an academic at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses in order to sideline or weaken the elite … similar to what happened in the country decades past.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
However since the upheaval of the early months of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which in different ways seems familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, found himself in a controversy recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US since 2019, having fled China due to harassment from officials.
In September, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Like people across the US – who were fired as a result of making negative comments regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family had personal info leaked and he was accused of espionage attempting to create division.
“That event surprised me deeply. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but that kind of social surveillance also has similarities with the East.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said an academic, a scholar at a US university. “This is that you see in China now as too,” she said, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring promoted by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself once turned to the US for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “The US isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the symbol of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide appears dimmer”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, now perceive it less objectionable than the US's, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “Western nations, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's acquisition of stakes in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between state and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government announced it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following similar stakes in additional firms it considers essential for the country's safety. The deals have made some investors nervous that America is embarking on a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned numerous Trump’s actions, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established 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 more free, more open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that while many intellectuals in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to official requests regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are publicly controlled by default. Administrators, which are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university once outspoken on bilateral matters declined to speak for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship here: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
