When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just considering which jokes to tell. She also carefully considers which topics to avoid. “I don't engage in directly criticizing the government,” she stated. Or if she ventures there, she makes certain it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publicly share material in which I directly criticize authorities … I think it's a learned behavior acquired back home.”
Wang, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. In 2025, she moved to the US. When she got there, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year after the president returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I understood where the line was, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Her fears reflect a new climate in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, perceive as eerily similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions come under fire.
Trump has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, China’s strongman leader. He has described Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in the trade war on Thursday, the camaraderie between both figures of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of optimism in the US that improved relations with the East could assist the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems as if America is shifting in the Chinese direction, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the grassroots in order to marginalize or weaken the elite … reminiscent of what happened in China half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration initiated the so-called a government streamlining body, or the agency, on federal institutions early on of his term, many in China see American governance through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of force.
But since the upheaval of the initial period of the new administration subsided, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Dimmer’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he once faced in China. He resided in America for several years, after escaping China due to harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Similar to others nationwide – many of whom were fired for expressing criticism regarding him – Deng faced a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he was accused of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing would occur in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from fellow social media users, instead of the government, but such of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and starting to surveil open discourse on topics deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” noted Maria Repnikova, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China now as too,” she added, stating that concerns are rising in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, explained that progressive thinkers like himself once turned to the US for political inspiration, since openly discussing domestic politics in the country is risky. However, “America is no longer a god for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, this lighthouse appears less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government seems to be doing the right thing in improving the environment and promoting EVs and tech investment,” he noted, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s acquisition of shares in American firms has prompted parallels with the East, where the distinction between government and private industry is often blurred.
Recently, authorities stated it would become an investor in a startup specialising in rare earth processing, after taking comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain major differences between the US under Trump and China. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that demanded reporting solely on approved information. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
Isaac Stone Fish, 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 freer, open, and liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in China were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on campus, in China, leading institutions are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the state, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, people in the US are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with repressive regimes. One professor at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
