THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY: A FAREED ZAKARIA SPECIAL PREMIERES MAY 10 at 8pmET/PT

New York, NY – (May 7, 2026) — In his second term, President Donald Trump has pushed the boundaries of presidential authority—defying Congress, ignoring the courts, denying due process, attacking free speech, prosecuting political opponents, launching a war unilaterally, and deploying troops domestically. Yet Trump is hardly the first president to wield power that has been considered to be beyond his authority. Rather, he represents the culmination of a long, steady expansion of executive power.

“The Imperial Presidency: A Fareed Zakaria Special” premieres Sunday, May 10, at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The program explores how, over decades, presidential authority has steadily stretched beyond the limits envisioned by the Founders—evolving into a system increasingly vulnerable to abuse and capable of enabling an unscrupulous leader to edge toward autocracy.

Beginning with the nation’s founding, Zakaria examines how the constitutional system designed by James Madison to constrain the presidency through robust checks and balances—a framework that largely held for more than 150 years—is now under threat. Weakened by the steady expansion of executive power during the Cold War, and stretched further by the war on terror – that system has been shaken to its core by President Trump, as the modern presidency has become increasingly untethered from the limits the Founders envisioned.

Zakaria is joined in this examination of America’s executive power by leading experts:

• Noah Feldman, Harvard Law School — Author, The Broken Constitution
• Andy Kroll, ProPublica — Author, A Death on W Street
• Charlie Savage, The New York Times — Author, Takeover
• Leah Wright Rigueur, Johns Hopkins University — Author, The Loneliness of the Black Republican

Will the system the Founders built withstand its gravest test—or is American democracy already slipping beyond repair? Join Fareed Zakaria for “The Imperial Presidency” on Sunday, May 10, at 8 p.m. ET/PT.