When the standup comedian, an emerging comedic talent, steps onto her platform in the Big Apple, she is not only thinking about what humor to deliver. She also weighs what subjects to steer clear of. “I don't engage in openly attacking the administration,” she explained. And when she does, she makes certain it isn't recorded for social media. “I'd never publicly share material where I openly disparage the government … I believe it's a habit from China.”
The comedian, thirty-nine, resided in the Chinese metropolis for nearly ten years, leaving in 2022. By 2025, she relocated to the US. Upon arrival, she embarked on a frenzy of “revenge bingeing on democracy,” attending talks, protests, and exploring New York’s public library.
However in the year since the president returned to office for the second time, there's been a “palpable change” in the environment, she says. “Back home, I understood where the line was, whereas here I'm standing on shifting sands.”
Her fears reflect a new political reality in the US which many Chinese, or those with experience in the country, perceive as eerily familiar. Enemies face exclusion. The president demands absolute loyalty. Reporters are targeted. Institutions are attacked.
The president has openly expressed about his admiration for China's leader, China’s authoritarian figure. He's called Xi as “fantastic”. When they reached a brief ceasefire in economic tensions on Thursday, the camaraderie between the two leaders of nations with vastly different governance models was evident. Following years of hope in the US that closer ties with the East could assist the rising power become more open, under Trump 2.0, it seems as if America is being pulled in China's path, rather than the other way around.
“The United States is experiencing a period of societal upheaval,” stated a constitutional law expert, a professor at a top Chinese university. “The president, Donald Trump, is attempting to mobilise the masses to marginalize or undermine established figures … similar to what happened in China half a century ago.”
Since Trump initiated what's termed a government streamlining body, or the agency, on the Washington bureaucracy early on of his term, many in China see US politics via the perspective of China's historical period. Whether it is the rallying of young people to execute presidential directives, or purging organizations of those deemed opposition, the president as viewed from China has delivered Mao-style chaos to the US, though without the same levels of violence.
However since the upheaval of the early months under Trump subsided, a new, different kind of climate has settled in the country, which variously also feels familiar to many Chinese individuals.
‘The Beacon Is Less Bright’
The deepest similarity between Trump’s America and China is the suppression on open expression.
Deng Haiyan, turned Chinese Communist party dissenter, found himself in a controversy this year, similar to what he’d only previously experienced in China. He resided in the US for several years, having fled the country because of harassment from the authorities.
Last fall, after the death of a public figure, Deng tweeted that Kirk was “despicable”. Like people nationwide – many of whom were fired for making negative comments about Kirk – Deng faced significant backlash. Relatives had personal info leaked and he faced allegations of being a Chinese spy attempting to divide the US.
“That event surprised me deeply. I never imagined that something like this would occur in America – what should only happen in an authoritarian country,” Deng said.
Deng’s backlash originated from online peers, instead of the state, but such of social surveillance also has similarities with China.
“In terms of going after dissenters and monitoring public speech on topics that are sensitive … That’s starting to emerge here,” said an academic, an associate professor at Georgia State University. “This is that you see in the East now as well,” she said, adding that there were now fears in the US of students reporting on educators, a form of surveillance that has been encouraged by Chinese authorities.
Zhang, the Peking University law professor, said that liberal Chinese intellectuals like himself used to look to the US for ideals, since openly discussing internal affairs in China is risky. But now, “America isn't some kind of ideal for Chinese liberals. The US's reputation has worsened generally.”
“We used to see the US as the symbol of constitutional democracy, but since the new administration, that guide seems to have become dimmer”.
Chinese liberals, typically, at least in private, critical of China’s political system, are increasingly finding it more acceptable than America’s, he stated. “It’s sort of difficult to acknowledge this reality … but after the pandemic, authorities seems to be doing correct policies in improving the environment and developing electric cars and investing in hi-tech,” Zhang said, while “the West, as represented by the United States, seems to be declining.”
The government's purchase of stakes in American firms has also drawn comparisons with China, where the line between state and business is often blurred.
On Monday, the US government stated it would become a shareholder in a startup specialising in mineral refinement, following similar stakes in additional firms deemed vital to national security. These moves have made certain stakeholders nervous that the US is embarking on a new era of state intervention in private industry.
There are still significant distinctions between the US under Trump and the East. Last month, multiple media outlets among others declined to agree to a defense department rule that required reporting solely on government-authorised news. American judiciary have blocked or overturned many of presidential measures, an action that is unthinkable in the nation's CCP-controlled judiciary.
An analyst, who established of Strategy Risks, a China-focused advisory firm, commented: “The United States might face the worst crisis of all time, orders of magnitudes worse than currently, and it will still be more free, open, and more liberal than the East under its leader.”
The professor observes that while numerous scholars in the country were surprised to see American colleges capitulate to government demands regarding diversity and inclusion practices and open discourse on university grounds, in the East, leading institutions are publicly controlled inherently. University leaders, who are selected by the state, “cannot refuse. They can’t afford to be disobedient.”
Still, Americans are beginning to adopt measures previously associated with more authoritarian countries. One professor at a US university who was previously vocal on bilateral matters refused to speak for this piece. He stated: “Honestly, I fear of the censorship here: I genuinely feel more comfortable criticizing China's leader now than say anything bad
