As the standup comedian, a rising comedic talent, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about what humor to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly criticizing the administration,” she explained. Or if she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for social media. “I would never publicly share material where I directly criticize authorities … I believe it's a learned behavior from China.”
The comedian, 39, resided in the Chinese metropolis for almost a decade, departing in 2022. In 2025, she moved to America. When she got there, she dove into a frenzy of “overindulging on democracy,” attending lectures, demonstrations, and delving into New York’s public library.
But over the past year after the president was elected again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “Back home, I knew the boundaries, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Wang’s fears reflect a new political reality in the US which numerous individuals from China, or people with experience in China, find disturbingly similar. Enemies are ostracised. The president expects absolute loyalty. Journalists face scrutiny. Establishments come under fire.
Trump has not been shy about his admiration for China's leader, the nation's strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a temporary truce in economic tensions recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different political systems became clear. And after decades of optimism in America that closer ties with China may help the rising power to liberalise, under Trump 2.0, it appears that America is being pulled in the Chinese direction, instead of the other way around.
“America is undergoing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at Peking University. “The top leader, Donald Trump, is attempting to rally the masses to marginalize or weaken established figures … similar to events in the country half a century ago.”
Ever since Trump initiated what's termed Department for Government Efficiency, or Doge, on federal institutions at the start of his term, many in China have viewed US politics through the lens of the Cultural Revolution. Be it the rallying of the youth to carry out the leader’s will, or cleansing organizations of those deemed opposition, Trump as viewed from China has brought Mao-style chaos to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of violence.
But since the turmoil of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has emerged in the US, which variously also feels recognizable to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Lighthouse Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and the East is the suppression on open expression.
A former police officer, turned CCP dissenter, ended up in the eye of a storm recently, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. Deng has lived in the US for several years, after escaping the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, Deng tweeted that Kirk was a “scumbag”. Like people nationwide – who were fired as a result of expressing criticism about Kirk – Deng faced a huge backlash. Relatives was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage seeking to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought such a thing could happen in America – something that should only happen in a repressive state,” he commented.
Deng’s backlash came from online peers, instead of the state, but that kind of social surveillance also has parallels with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring open discourse about issues deemed controversial … It's appearing in the US,” noted an academic, a scholar at Georgia State University. “This is observed in China now as too,” she said, stating that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a type of surveillance promoted by the CCP.
The professor, the legal expert, said that progressive thinkers such as him once turned to America for ideals, in part because public debate on domestic politics in China is risky. However, “The US isn't some kind of ideal for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We once viewed America as the beacon of democratic governance, but after Trump took power, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, behind closed doors, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it less objectionable than America’s, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but after the pandemic, the government appears to be pursuing the right thing in environmental protection and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “Western nations, exemplified by the United States, appear declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has prompted parallels with the East, where the line between state and private industry is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government announced it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, after taking comparable shares in other companies it considers vital to the country's safety. These moves have left certain stakeholders concerned that America is entering a new era of government meddling in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between Trump’s America and the East. In October, several news organisations including the Guardian declined to agree to a defense department rule that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or reversed numerous Trump’s actions, something that would be impossible in the nation's party-dominated judiciary.
Isaac Stone Fish, who established of Strategy Risks, specializing in China, said: “The United States could descend into the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than China under Xi.”
Zhang notes that although numerous scholars in the country were shocked to see US universities yield to official requests regarding DEI policies and open discourse on campus, in the East, the top universities are all state-owned by default. Administrators, who are appointed by the state, “cannot of saying no. They dare not defy orders.”
Still, Americans are starting to take precautions previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at an American college once vocal on US-China issues refused to be interviewed for this piece. He stated: “The truth is, I am scared of the censorship in the US: I actually feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader these days than say anything bad
