When the standup comedian, an emerging performer, steps onto her platform in New York, she is not just thinking about which jokes to deliver. She also carefully considers what subjects to avoid. “I refrain from directly attacking the government,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it's not recorded for online platforms. “I would never publish openly material in which I openly disparage the government … I believe this is a learned behavior acquired back home.”
The comedian, 39, lived in Shanghai for nearly ten years, leaving in that year. By 2025, she moved to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s library system.
However over the past year since Donald Trump returned to office again, there has been a noticeable shift in the atmosphere, she notes. “In China, I knew the boundaries, while in the US I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her concerns mirror an emerging political reality in the US which many Chinese, or people who have lived in China, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president expects absolute loyalty. Reporters face scrutiny. Establishments are attacked.
The president has openly expressed regarding his respect for China's leader, China’s strongman leader. He's called Xi as a “great guy”. As they agreed a brief ceasefire in the trade war recently, the bonhomie between the two leaders of countries with vastly different governance models became clear. Following years of hope in America that improved relations with the East may help the growing nation to liberalise, in the current administration, it seems that America is shifting in the Chinese direction, instead of vice versa.
“The United States is experiencing an era of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, an academic at Peking University. “The top leader, Trump, is trying to mobilise the masses to sideline or undermine established figures … reminiscent of events in China half a century ago.”
Since the administration initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or Doge, on the Washington bureaucracy early on in office, many in China see US politics through the lens of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of the youth to execute presidential directives, or purging institutions of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered disorder reminiscent of Mao to the US, albeit absent equivalent degrees of force.
However since the turmoil of the initial period under Trump has calmed, a new, distinct type of climate has emerged in the US, which in different ways also feels familiar to many Chinese people.
‘The Lighthouse Has Become Dimmer’
The most profound parallel between Trump’s America and the East is the crackdown on open expression.
A former police officer, now a Chinese Communist party dissenter, ended up in a controversy recently, similar to what he once faced in his homeland. Deng has lived in America for several years, after escaping China because of harassment from officials.
Last fall, after the death of Charlie Kirk, he posted that the individual was a “scumbag”. Similar to others across the US – who lost their jobs as a result of making negative comments regarding him – he encountered a huge backlash. His family was doxed and he faced allegations of espionage attempting to create division.
“This incident was a real shock. I hadn't thought that something like this would occur in America – what typically happens in a repressive state,” he commented.
His pile on came from fellow social media users, rather than the government, but such of social surveillance bears similarities with China.
“Regarding targeting those who disagree and monitoring public speech about issues deemed controversial … That’s starting to emerge in the US,” said Maria Repnikova, a scholar at Georgia State University. “That’s something observed in China today as too,” she added, adding that concerns are rising in America of students reporting on teachers, a form of surveillance promoted by Chinese authorities.
The professor, the Peking University law professor, explained that liberal Chinese intellectuals such as him once turned to America for ideals, since public debate on internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “The US isn't a god for progressive Chinese. The US's reputation has declined generally.”
“We used to see America as the beacon of constitutional democracy, but after Trump took power, that guide appears less luminous”.
Progressive Chinese, who are often, at least in private, skeptical about China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than the US's, he stated. “It's somewhat painful to accept this reality … but post-COVID, the government seems to be doing 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, seems to be declining.”
The Trump administration’s purchase of shares in US companies has also drawn comparisons with the East, where the line between government and business is frequently unclear.
Recently, the US government stated it will take a shareholder in a new company focused on rare earth processing, following comparable shares in additional firms it considers vital to national security. The deals have left some investors concerned that the US is entering a fresh phase of state intervention in the private sector.
There are still major differences between Trump’s America and China. Last month, several news organisations among others refused to sign to a Pentagon policy that required they only report on approved news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is impossible in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, the founder of a consulting firm, specializing in China, said: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, far more severe than currently, and it will still be freer, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
Zhang observes that although numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see US universities yield to official requests concerning diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on campus, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are appointed by the government, “have no liberty refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are starting to adopt measures that were once confined to repressive regimes. An academic at an American college once outspoken on bilateral matters refused to be interviewed for this article. He said: “Honestly, I am scared of suppression in the US: I actually feel less afraid to criticise Xi these days than say anything bad
