Talk:Steven Cheung

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Article shows political bias

The below section of this article is inaccurate and needs changing quickly because it implies the 2020 election was ‘stolen’ when there is no evidence for that claim: ‘After the 2020 US presidential election, in which Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, Cheung was involved in the Trump campaign’s efforts to reveal the truth of the stolen election.’ 2A02:C7C:8922:5D00:5C0C:CF25:8818:4AAA (talk) 01:36, 4 January 2024 (UTC)

Was it corrected or do mods here lack morals and ethics  ? 71.34.102.109 (talk) 13:08, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

To add to article

Basic information to add to this article (to help make it more properly encyclopedic): information about Cheung's family background and ethnic heritage. If he's Chinese American, why not add a mention of that to the text of this article? 98.123.38.211 (talk) 02:04, 22 May 2024 (UTC)

Now the article says Steven Cheung's parents are Chinese. Indeed, the surname Cheung is the Cantonese pronunciation of 張 (Mandarin: Zhang), but Cheung's first name, Huyen, is 100% Vietnamese. In this light, shouldn't we make clear whether one or more of his parents are actually Vietnamese or Chinese Vietnamese? 98.123.38.211 (talk) 01:16, 30 August 2024 (UTC)

His legal name is Steven Cheung. If you look at public records there is no indication of Huyen. Therefore Huyen should be removed Gjear (talk) 00:45, 6 March 2025 (UTC)

Agreed. There is no record that his name is Huyen and he is not Vietnamese. It seems racially insensitive to include this. It should be reverted to Steven. Co20mo (talk) 22:58, 19 March 2025 (UTC)

Where in China was his father from, and what are the names of his father and mother? It's not very encyclopedic to not include such basic information. Also, why do multiple sources state that his name at birth was Huyen Cheung? ~2026-20625-89 (talk) 02:40, 14 May 2026 (UTC)

The Chinese Wikipedia article states that his father was from Hong Kong. Source: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BC%A0%E6%8C%AF%E7%86%99_(%E6%94%BF%E6%B2%BB%E9%A1%BE%E9%97%AE) Another source: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/steven-cheung-voice-trump/682211/ ~2026-20625-89 (talk) 02:41, 14 May 2026 (UTC)

Reference 8 (failed verification)

Currently, reference 8 directs to an incorrect part of the opensecrets.org website, so it has been marked as "failed verification." The correct URL is: https://www.opensecrets.org/revolving-door/cheung-steven/summary?id=79298 This directs to a listing of Steven Cheung's Employment History and Education.

I apologize that I am unable to make the necessary change myself due to advancing age and high levels of chronic pain at the moment. AussieBoy (talk) 05:27, 8 August 2024 (UTC)

Arlington National Cemetery incident

In the "Arlington National Cemetery incident" section, it is claimed that Steven Cheung and Chris LaCivita were the Trump staffers who assaulted the cemetery employee. I checked the articles cited, and as far as I can tell, none of them supports this claim.

Based on other articles I've read, I believe the two staffers in question were different individuals; and it is my intention to edit the section accordingly. But I would like to first allow time for other editors to weigh in, if anyone has evidence supporting the current claim (or if I may have missed something in my reading of the cited articles). Please feel free to weigh in here, if you would like to present evidence that the current claim is accurate. Thanks and happy editing! Chillowack (talk) 19:20, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Requested move 1 September 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Bobby Cohn 🍁 (talk) 18:38, 8 September 2025 (UTC)

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Steven Cheung (political advisor) → Steven Cheung – Per prominence of subject and pageviews elijahpepe@wikipedia (he/him) 15:32, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

• Support as per nom. 162 etc. (talk) 16:26, 1 September 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Steven Chueng

His name is not Steven, its Huyen 71.34.102.109 (talk) 13:07, 6 October 2025 (UTC)

Chinese name

@ElijahPepe:

Hi! Yes, it is true that Steven Cheung was born stateside. Yet there is a practice of adding Chinese names of Americans/Canadians/Britons/etc. of Chinese ancestry if they have a distinct Chinese name.

Regarding your edit summary: Donald Trump is not of Chinese descent, and he was not known to have been heavily involved in Sinology nor worked in China or Taiwan for decades (some people not of Chinese background have distinct Chinese names because they lived in China or Taiwan for years and/or have Sinology as their career background). WhisperToMe (talk) 17:32, 25 June 2026 (UTC)

His Chinese name is irrelevant. He's never lived in China, never worked in China, never done anything notable that could be construed as being related to China, and never been known or notable publicly under a Chinese name.

The lead sentence should be concise, to the point, and free of unnecessary information. (MOS:LEAD) If it is to be included at all, it should be further down in the article such as "Early Life" section. RachelTensions (talk) 15:08, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

@RachelTensions: He is in fact known under his Chinese name in multiple Chinese-language news sources. Those sources use the name "張振熙" to talk about him. They include official Chinese translations done by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal ("白宮通訊聯絡辦主任張振熙(Steven Cheung)[...]") plus ethnic Chinese newspapers in the US. Note in the NY Times article that the other people (they are not of Chinese ancestry) are known under transliterations of their names.

Even if he never lived and worked in China nor had a career about China per se, it had been longstanding practice (I stress this is not a policy or guideline, but simply a longstanding practice) to have Chinese names of American politicians of Chinese descent who were born in the US and lived in the US. I picked some from List of Asian Americans and Pacific Islander Americans in the United States Congress: Hiram Fong was born in Hawaii, Judy Chu was born in Los Angeles, and Vince Fong was born in Bakersfield, California. Those three had distinct Chinese names added, on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds. Grace Meng, of Taiwanese ancestry, also has her Chinese name posted. Politicians of Japanese and Korean descent also have their ethnic names stated in their articles.

WhisperToMe (talk) 15:44, 5 July 2026 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Biography#Context says "Ethnicity, religion, or sexuality should generally not be in the lead unless relevant to the subject's notability." However, in Cheung's case, his Chinese name does not have to be in the lead, but instead in a Template:Infobox Chinese box on the right side of the article. I do want to do more research on how important ethnicity is to Cheung, but in my view it is telling that he is known more commonly by his Chinese name than by "斯蒂芬·張" (a transliteration of his English name) in Chinese-language media. WhisperToMe (talk) 04:37, 7 July 2026 (UTC)

I found he did talk about his Asian American identity. The New Yorker stated that he wrote: "As an Asian American who has worked on campaigns, in government, and in the corporate world, working for President Trump and in his WH was the most inclusive environment I’ve ever encountered." He didn't say specifically Chinese-American, but he did bring up his ethnic identity at least once. WhisperToMe (talk) 14:21, 12 July 2026 (UTC)

Balancing the article (NPOV)

I'd like to propose two additions for balance. Both come from sources the article already cites.

1. Expand the Communications Director section. It's one sentence, even though it's his main role since January 2025, and Communication style is the longest section. From the Atlantic profile (Godfrey 2025):

A March 2025 profile in The Atlantic called Cheung "the architect of this new messaging era." It said the second-term communications operation was more unified than in Trump's first term. The same profile called his messaging vulgar and cruel and reported a "more aggressive posture toward critical coverage," including the ban on the Associated Press.

2. Balance the NOTUS use. The NOTUS profile (Joseph 2024) is cited only for Stephanie Grisham's negative quote, but it's largely positive. Proposed:

In a January 2024 NOTUS profile, Steve Bannon called Cheung "probably the hardest worker in all of Trumpland," and the piece credited him with professionalizing Trump's 2024 campaign communications.

Wording's open. RustyFinch (talk) 20:46, 10 July 2026 (UTC)

Cheung's communication style, which is most of the content discussed in The Atlantic, is already mentioned in the "Communication style" section. Grisham's quote is mentioned because she worked with Cheung and it describes his communications style. It is not negative, either; Grisham concedes that "Trumpworld likes" his messaging. Bannon's comment is about Cheung himself and is impossible to substantiate. elijahpepe@wikipedia (he/him) 21:54, 10 July 2026 (UTC)