The idea that Republicans are the party of balanced budgets and fiscal responsibility - and the Democrats spend money like drunken sailors and run massive deficits - is probably one of the oldest GOP talking points; it's been around virtually forever. I remember a teacher back in the early 80s saying absentmindedly one day "of course, the Democrats are known for spending money they don't have" when talking about budgets. The problem, of course, is that it's not even close to the truth. Reagan ran massive deficits, George W. Bush ran massive deficits, and now Trump is running record deficits. And Republicans simply don't care. A more accurate description would be that Republicans are the party of fiscal responsibility whenever a Democrat is POTUS. Then they claim to care, and they complain incessantly about how Democrats are driving us to ruin with budget-busting spending. But when one of their own becomes POTUS, they don't give a shit what he spends or what he spends it on.