
BREAKING the DEADLOCK: A Power Play – Preview
Preview: 5/20/2025 | 33sVideo has Closed Captions
Experts clash in a hypothetical power story of executive power. Watch a preview.
Watch a preview for BREAKING the DEADLOCK: A Power Play sparks civil dialogue in polarized times. Guided by UC Davis Law Professor Aaron Tang, a diverse panel explores ethical dilemmas in a fictional tale of executive power—told through two fictional U.S. Presidents from opposing parties. Complex, timely, and thought-provoking.
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Location furnished by The New York Historical. Funding for BREAKING the DEADLOCK was made possible in part by PBS viewers.

BREAKING the DEADLOCK: A Power Play – Preview
Preview: 5/20/2025 | 33sVideo has Closed Captions
Watch a preview for BREAKING the DEADLOCK: A Power Play sparks civil dialogue in polarized times. Guided by UC Davis Law Professor Aaron Tang, a diverse panel explores ethical dilemmas in a fictional tale of executive power—told through two fictional U.S. Presidents from opposing parties. Complex, timely, and thought-provoking.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch DEADLOCK
DEADLOCK is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- Welcome to Middlevania.
- Best state in the union, by the way.
- It's here where we'll discover who we are.
- The president is gonna find somebody that will follow his orders.
- Don't you have a responsibility?
- Agreeing.
- Look forward to working with you.
We got a lot of good stuff to do.
- At odds.
- Can does not mean should.
- Excuse me, I'm not on a side.
- If you go in with personal axes to grind, totally ineffective.
- [Aaron] See what can happen when we try to break the deadlock.
(stirring music)
BREAKING the DEADLOCK: A Power Play – Open
Video has Closed Captions
Preview: 5/20/2025 | 1m 9s | Experts clash in a hypothetical power story of executive power. Watch a preview. (1m 9s)
Chris Christie: Oath Over Orders
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Clip: 5/20/2025 | 3m 14s | Chris Christie questions executive power in this clip from BREAKING the DEADLOCK: A Power Play. (3m 14s)
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Clip: 5/20/2025 | 2m 41s | This BREAKING the DEADLOCK clip explores how a pardon debate tests justice, politics, and power. (2m 41s)
Power and Loyalty in the Balance
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Clip: 5/20/2025 | 4m 11s | Campaign finance issues test justice and loyalty, in this clip from BREAKING the DEADLOCK. (4m 11s)
Power to the People: Reclaiming Democracy
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Clip: 5/20/2025 | 4m 40s | How does America move towards a more perfect union? Watch this clip from BREAKING the DEADLOCK. (4m 40s)
Supreme Showdown: Courts vs. the Presidency
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Clip: 5/20/2025 | 3m 5s | A scene from BREAKING the DEADLOCK explores the courts’ role in checking presidential power. (3m 5s)
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Location furnished by The New York Historical. Funding for BREAKING the DEADLOCK was made possible in part by PBS viewers.