When the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, takes the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to tell. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she ventures there, she ensures it isn't recorded for online platforms. “I'd never publish openly content where I directly criticize the government … I think this is a habit from China.”
The comedian, 39, lived in the Chinese metropolis for nearly a decade, departing in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on freedom,” going to lectures, demonstrations, and delving into the city's library system.
However over the past year after Donald Trump returned to office for the second time, there has been a “palpable change” in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I understood where the line was, while here I find myself on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect an emerging political reality in America which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in the country, perceive as disturbingly familiar. Opponents face exclusion. The leader expects total allegiance. Reporters are targeted. Establishments come under fire.
The president has not been shy regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in the trade war on Thursday, the bonhomie between both figures of nations with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. And after decades of optimism in America that improved relations with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it appears as if the US is being pulled in the Chinese direction, rather than vice versa.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses in order to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to events in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump unleashed the so-called a government streamlining body, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start in office, numerous Chinese observers have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out presidential directives, or purging institutions of perceived enemies, the president as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent the same levels of violence.
But since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, different kind of political atmosphere has settled in the US, which in different ways also feels recognizable to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on free speech.
Deng Haiyan, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng resided in the US for several years, after escaping the country due to pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people across the US – many of whom lost their jobs for expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in the United States – what should only happen in a repressive state,” Deng said.
Deng’s pile on originated from online peers, rather than the state, but such of public monitoring bears parallels with the East.
“In terms of going after those who disagree and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in the East today as well,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of pupils informing against educators, a form of monitoring that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for political inspiration, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is risky. But now, “The US is no longer a ideal for progressive Chinese. America’s image has worsened across the board.”
“We once viewed the US as the symbol of democratic governance, but since the new administration, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, critical of the nation's governance, now perceive it more acceptable than America’s, Zhang said. “It's somewhat painful to accept this … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing correct policies in improving the environment and promoting EVs and investing in hi-tech,” he noted, while “the West, exemplified by America, appear in decline.”
The government's purchase of shares in American firms has prompted comparisons with the East, where the line between state and private industry is frequently unclear.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become an investor in a new company focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to 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. In October, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a Pentagon policy that demanded they only report on government-authorised information. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, an action that is impossible in China’s party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of a consulting firm, specializing in China, commented: “America might face its gravest challenge of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang notes that while many intellectuals in the country were surprised to see American colleges yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and free speech on university grounds, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “cannot refuse. They dare not to be disobedient.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are beginning to take precautions that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
