When the standup comedian, a rising performer, steps onto the stage in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I refrain from openly criticizing the administration,” she stated. And when she does, she ensures it's not captured for social media. “I would never publicly share content where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. In 2025, she relocated to America. When she got there, she dove into an intense period of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending lectures, protests, and delving into the city's public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office again, there has been a “palpable change” in the environment, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I find myself on unstable ground.”
Wang’s concerns mirror a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or those with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies face exclusion. The leader demands absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Institutions are attacked.
Trump has openly expressed regarding his respect for Xi Jinping, the nation's strongman leader. He has described him as “fantastic”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions on Thursday, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with diametrically opposed political systems was evident. Following years of hope in America that closer ties with China could assist the growing nation become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if the US is shifting in China's path, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of cultural revolution,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is trying to rally the grassroots in order to sideline or undermine established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since the administration unleashed what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy at the start of his term, numerous Chinese observers see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the mobilisation of the youth to execute presidential directives, or cleansing organizations of perceived enemies, Trump from a Chinese viewpoint has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, though without equivalent degrees of violence.
However after the turmoil of the initial period of the new administration subsided, an unfamiliar, distinct type of political atmosphere has emerged in the US, which variously seems recognizable to numerous Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The most profound similarity between the US today and the East is the suppression on free speech.
A former police officer, now a CCP critic, found himself in the eye of a storm recently, the likes of which he’d only previously experienced in China. He has lived in the US for several years, after escaping China because of pressure from the authorities.
Last fall, following the passing of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was “despicable”. Like people across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments about Kirk – he encountered significant backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to divide the US.
“This incident was a real shock. I never imagined that something like this would occur in the United States – what typically happens in an authoritarian country,” he commented.
His pile on originated from online peers, instead of the government, but that kind of social surveillance bears parallels with China.
“Regarding going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge here,” noted Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in China today as too,” she added, adding that there were now fears in the US of pupils informing against educators, a type of monitoring promoted by the CCP.
Zhang, the legal expert, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him used to look to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in the country is dangerous. But now, “America isn't some kind of god for Chinese liberals. America’s image has declined generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, this lighthouse seems to have become less luminous”.
Chinese liberals, who are often, behind closed doors, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat difficult to acknowledge this … but after the pandemic, authorities appears to be pursuing correct policies 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 government's purchase of shares in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between government and private industry is frequently unclear.
Recently, authorities stated it will take a shareholder in a startup focused on mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in additional firms deemed vital to national security. The deals have left some investors nervous that the US is embarking on a fresh phase of government meddling in the private sector.
Yet, there remain significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, several news organisations including the Guardian refused to sign to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on approved news. American judiciary have halted or overturned numerous presidential measures, something that is impossible in China’s party-dominated legal system.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into its gravest challenge of its history, orders of magnitudes worse than it is now, and it will still be freer, more open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities capitulate to government demands regarding DEI policies and open discourse on university grounds, in China, the top universities are all state-owned by default. University leaders, which are appointed by the government, “have no liberty of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Nevertheless, people in the US are starting to adopt measures that were once associated with repressive regimes. One professor at a US university once vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this article. He stated: “The truth is, I fear of the censorship in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi now than say anything bad
