Washington: Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush are preparing to hit the road this week, promoting the launch of their new book, "Sisters First." The book's early press, and even its slim content, deliver a soft-focus homage to their father. George W. Bush's star is on the rise, his favorability ratings the highest since he left office. Americans are now reminiscing about Bush in glowing terms, after his big, recent speech on democracy, swiping at President Donald Trump, and the joke he cracked to Barack Obama at a post-presidential fundraiser for hurricane relief. Even Howard Wolfson, former spokesman to Hillary Clinton and a top aide to Michael Bloomberg, posted a picture on Instagram of himself embracing W. in New York. Caption: "Admit it. You miss him."

A newfound love for Bush springs from a growing distaste for the current occupant of the Oval Office. And the comparison that many progressives and establishment Republicans itch to draw between Bush and Trump makes the Texan seem like Lincoln. But a more careful look at Trump and Bush's records shouldn't elevate Bush; it should remind us that the two presidents have more in common than they care publicly to admit.

For starters, just think about tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, suppressing the black vote and Bush's penchant for denigrating facts and expertise. Our country's historical amnesia be damned; the roots of Trump's reactionary agenda were planted in W.'s West Wing.

I visited Bush's White House at the gloaming of his presidency, on May 29, 2008, to interview his chief political strategist, Ed Gillespie, now a candidate for governor of Virginia. Gillespie had been hired to rid the Bush legacy of Karl Rove's political stench (CIA leaks, fired prosecutors, Jack Abramoff, "deleted" Bush White House emails and so forth). On that bright Wednesday morning, USA Today ran front-page coverage of Scott McClellan, Bush's former friend and White House press secretary, delivering the "harshest criticism to date from a Bush insider."