Analysts will catch you up on what you misunderstand week and look ahead to the end of the year sprinted in congress. All ahead on face the nation. Good morning welcome to face the nation im john dickerson. Most of our post thanksgiving broadcasts will dean voted to discussion on leadership in times of crisis. But we begin with the news. President trump system winding up a fiveday trip to his Palm Beach Club maralago where he played golf with tiger woods and Dustin Johnson and wished u. S. Troops overseas a happy thanksgiving. Before he left he spoke with reporters and said that he is supporting Alabama Republican Senate candidate roy moore. Can an accused child molester better an a democrat . He denies it. He says it didnt happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also. Youre talking about he said 40 years ago this did not happen. Dickerson minnesota democrat al franken responded to new allegations that he touched women while taking photographs with them. I feel terribly that ive made some women feel badly and for that i am so sorry. And i want to make sure that never happens again. We will hear more from senator franken later today. His office tells us that he will be doing interviews with wccotv our cbs affiliate in minneapolis as well as Minnesota Public Radio and minneapolis star tribune. Congress returns to washington this week in addition to dealing with new claims of Sexual Harassment against House Democrat john conyers they face a daunting todo list. With three weeks left before the holiday break. Government funding expires on decemberth so the government will shut down unless an agreement is made. Senate must decide by december 14th whether to reinstitute sanctions against iran, lifted under the Iranian Nuclear deal. Funding has expired for the Childrens HealthInsurance Program and the money to cover nine million children will effectively run out by the end of the year. So will the authority for key Surveillance Program used to combat terrorism. Then theres that enormous tax cut package that the president wants passed by christmas. And Congress Needs also to pass the Hurricane Relief bill to help those affected by this years storms. And with all that have on the table we turn to our panel, susan page is Washington Bureau chief of usa today. Reihan salam the National Review and Jamelle Bouie the chief Political Correspondent for slate and cbs news contributor. Susan ill start with you, roy moore, the white house distance hill self at first now the president is all in he tweeted this morning, against roy moores opponent, what changed . I think the president sees some parallels perhaps with his own situation, he was accused of Sexual Misconduct he won the election anyway. He would very much prefer to have republican vote in the Senate Rather than a democratic vote. This will be a big test for voters in alabama above the personal versus political, politics of alabama say any republican will beat any democrat but were at a moment in our countrys history where there is attention to the personal behavior of powerful men and that might turn this election we just dont know. Dickerson jamelle, there s maybe a split, maybe theres not a split but there appears to be split between the president who would who doesnt believe that roy moores excusers and Senate Republicans including mcconnell and mike lee, other senators who have looked at the evidence, looked at responses from roy moore say we believe the accusers. Do you think that split matters . What do you think happens with that split . I think thats what matters in terms of what happens if roy moore wins. If moore ends up prevailing in . Contest, Senate Republicans, as you said stated they believe the accusers have, both harsh words, not so harsh words condemned moore will have to deal with the fact that they now have an accused child molester in their caucus. I think there will be serious pressure to expel him from the senate as a result. That is a direct blow to their attempt to get through this busy december to, advance their general d. Then Major Political weight for the entire party. Im not sure that President Trump is necessarily looking at this a couple steps down the road i think hes very much focused got to get a win, i got to get a win. Once you just back away a little bit, having moore win and then come to the senate presents just a whole host of political problems that will not be easy to deal with. Dickerson and cultural ones, this moment were trying the figure out whether the culture enables, the questions reihan, whether the voters of alabama are enabling that kind of behavior which to say, somebody gets accused their party rallies around them it covers over the okay could you sakes. Its very important to keep in mind that in the case of roy moore this is the case for donald trump and Hillary Clinton there are man rereluctant voters. Votes for their candidate on the basis pretty much of negative partisanship. Thought that the opposing candidate would be such a disaster, if you look at doug jones its very striking that here you have a candidate who is not a classic conservative southern democrat. As very mainstream democrat who has positions on, for example, abortion rights, much else. The fact that he is as competitive as he is right now, actually tells you quite a lot about the state of the republican brand, particularly the state of the republican brand among middle class, upper middle class, College Educated alabamaian voters. The fact that its quite possible that heel win the election speaks to the general weakness of the party. You think that the Party Membership alone would be enough to carry even someone like roy moore through given the climate of extreme negative partisansh partisanship. Dickerson what are the democrats looking like in alabama . Are they going to rally . Undone by this . These allegations or is that might they not turn out . It is not clear that democrats are going to be energized especially African Americans in alabama. That say think a bit of dill policemen ma for doug jones, if you brought in barack owe bam month to rally African American voters do you repel some of those republicans voters who dont want to vote for roy moore but have been long opposed to barack owe bama. Thats one of the complicated factors here. Dickerson al franken will speak later today, new accusations against him. The question being whether democrats lose standing to speak on this issue if they dont deal with their own. We also have john conyers, a longtime democrat in the house, had an accusation come outed, how do they manage this issue . Its clear right now that democrats are trying hard not to manage this issue, not to bring pressure on either conyers or franken. My sense, their credibility on this issue depends on being able to stay a strong stance on it. Even if the details of, say, frankens incident are sort of in order of magnitude more than what roy moore s. To show the public that the party is taking these things seriously. And in the case of franken its not as if there were pressure for him to resign that they would be endangering it. Politically this doesnt seem isnt a direct threat to their minority or future majority. My view that democrats really should take the lead on this that it does not reflect well to be so hesitant to put pressure on. You know, his offenses arent as serious as roy moore, built theyre just so stupid. Hes a u. S. Senator, hes groaning women at the state what was he thinking, no longer comic at this point. In a way, its easy for democrats if al frank sen forced to resign which i think not likely but still possible. Not only would he likely be replaced by democrats hed be replaced by democratic woman given the very strong ranks of women in men politics. Its also through, however, that minnesota is a state trending republican over time. Virginia becomes more democratic thats partly because of domestic migration. Same reason why states like minnesota, pennsylvania, what have you are becoming more winnable for republicans. The next election for his seat will be in 2020 thats fair bit of time. The jerks does the party matter more than al gang wrens owe own survival. Roy moores case its very clear that he has not the best relationship with the Republican Party and republican establishment, right . There it kind of makes sense that hes quite happy to wage war on all the republicans calling him to step down. Al franken cares about the health of larger Progressive Movement and Democratic Party and its very clear that he is a lot less popular than the next atbat democrattish that state. Dickerson move on to policy and all the business that congress has in front. Jamelle, when they return tax cuts to the central question, where do you think that conversation stands on rees to get this passed before the end of the year . I at the moment, republican tax bill coming in fair amount of criticism for its expense, sheer cost, that these tax cuts will end up adding huge amounts to the federal budget deficit. I think that there are some republicans who are have begun to voice their concern about that fact. Susan collins has that shes not happy with senate bill stands right now. I think if theres a path to this happening, its going to resolve around sort of finding ways to much frankly like the Health Care Battles earlier this year. Finding ways to assuage those handful of Senate Republicans what are not entirely comfortable with either the policy consequences or the potential political consequences. Dickerson susan, what do you think . Are these real blockage getting passed in the senate or be dealt with . I think what the amazing thing is, its still alive in the face of like 25 puck support and no actual coherent tax plan of the house and senate agree on. Has not really been any republican senator, ron johnson express interested concerns but more like a bid to buy him off with something. I think it is possible that they pass the tax bill. I think that is remarkable. Dickerson ideologically, how does it match between the trump view and traditional republican view . Its a very awkward marriage of the two. On could argue that they learned one lesson, half of lesson from the populous moment, that lessons its knock we tax affluent blue state professionals. But with that revenue that you gain fred taxing those folks, they have wound up giving in the form of Corporate Tax cuts rather than in the form of tax cuts for lower middle class and working class households. That is a very odd lesson to draw from the moment. However, theres another side of this. Which is that lot of people argued could you have done this in bipartisan way, i that i very, very unlikely. Speaker of house knows that you need complete clarity on. That if you had had some democrats cooperating, that would have muddied the issue for democrats, this is always going to be something owned by republicans and thats why they should not have gone so far in my view on the corporate rate cuts, because theyre still going to offer a better deal to those constituencies, to put it crudely than democrats. And really this was way of winning over trump and its not clear that trump has a good sense of how the politics of this ought to work. Its not clear to me that what has real appetite for 20 Corporate Tax rate that theyre going to the polls on the basis of 20 Corporate Tax hike. Dickerson im going to end with philosophical question. Theres a lot of things that get covered but stuff that doesnt get covered in these periods. I wondered if each of you have an idea, something that youve noticed has been happening that deserves more attention thats out there, susan . One of the things we talked about on this roundtable is how the republicans have unsuccessful in delivering anything since winning unified control of the washington capital. If you look at state capitals, republican gainsf look at hot button issue like abortion republican state legislators have managed to pass stands on abortion spin circumstances just in the last six months since the last election in five states bans on abortion. 11 states major ref visions on abortion in three states, new restrictions on funding for planned parenthood. Gridlock that affected washington has not affected state capitals and the republicans who have made the gains. That shows the importance of the mid terms next year not just for congress forestate legislators. The composition of alabama, their enthusiasm for Virginia Election theres lot of talk about enthusiasm, but i think lost in these conversations is the very real fact that efforts at voters suppression is ongoing in this state. Efforts to restrict access to the ballot. Then on federal level, it is simply the case of President Trump cabinet members who have been remarkably successful at turning the justice departments mission away from its charge of defending the super rights of americans. I think thats going to be under the radar in our sort of focus on whatever the president is saying on any day. Dickerson reihan . One of President Trumps unique contributions, the night states ought to take more strategic approach to trade. These been arguing over 30 years. Yet theres a real possibility that his tax reform, the one that hes endorsed will actually widen u. S. Deficit will put the u. S. Trade sector in more vulnerable position that moving to territorial tax system something that will actually facilitate the offshoring of production and much else, there are two elements of the trump message that steam to really be contradicting each other, the question is whether those elements the Administration Care about trade, who care about more strategic approach will eventually gain the upper hand because right now, theyre not. Dickerson thanks to all of you. You. Well be right back in a moment with our book panel. Ted technoly thats moving companies forward fast. Ecommerce. Real time inventory. Virtual changing rooms. Thats why retailers rely on comcast business to deliver consistent Network Speed across multiple locations. Every corporate office, warehouse and store near or far covered. Leaving every competitor, threat and challenge outmaneuvered. Comcast business outmaneuver. [ click ] [ keyboard clacking ] [ clacking continues ] good questions lead to good answers. Our advisors can help you find both. Talk to one today and see why were bullish on the future. Yours. Dickerson we turn now to conversation with four authors whose new books examine lead every ship in times of crisis. Is Robert Dallek is the author of Franklin Delano roosevelt a political life. Ron chernow is author grant a new biography of the Civil War Union general in 18th president. Nancy koehn is forged in crisis which looks at five historical figures who demonstrated leadership. And Mark Updegrove snoot last republicans examines the president hes of george w. Bush and George Herbert walker bush and their relationship. Welcome to all of you. Eye so glad youre here. Ron, let me start with you. You are all historians but also story tellers, too. So, but general grant, president grant on stage for us, give us your favorite story. My favorite story is virginia 1864, grant is standing on the edge of the woods when lethal shell comes whizzing by him, passes within three inches of his ears. Grant doesnt blink, he doesnt flinch, his facial expression doesnt change he turns to hissage than says, hudson, go get that shell lets see what the enshe firing at us. The reason i love this store tree that shows grants literally coolness under fire. And his metabolism was such that at moments where the rest of us would be fearful or anxious he gets very cool and focused. Dickerson he was more cool on the battlefield almost maybe than in the barracks well talk about that later. Nancy, you have five to choose from. Which one story do you want to tell . Its october, 1915, earnest shackleton is marooned with 27 crew members on iceberg off the coast of antarctic california his ship is being crushed by the ice and men are intense on the berg hes pacing at night. Cant sleep. Doesnt know how hes going to get them all home alive. And he records later in his diary, i had no idea but i had to get them home alive. May be made into what i need to be in order to do that. The next morning, he awakes each of the men by coming to their tent with cup of hot tea says, ship and stores now gone, lads, well go home. Again, the coolness under pressure, the commitment, right, in the perfect storm to do something very worthy and his own uncertainty which was very important but not evident to his men. Forged in crisis. Dickerson Robert Dallek, how about what is fdr well, he had a great sense of humor. Ben cowen came in the oval office one morning and was chuckling. Would you mind sharing the joke with me, mr. President . All right, ben, eleanor was just in here she had been to her doctor this morning for her annual physical. And i said, what did the doctor have to say about that big ass of yours . She says, he had nothing wrong to say about you. Dickerson mark, you tell the story of father and a son, which moment from that do you want to tee up . There are t