Sadly probably true.
Decreasing spending means cutting things and that makes people hangry.
That seems to be the inherent weakness of a republic:
“ “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy.”
—-1951 The Oklohomian, supposedly originated from a Scootish lad named Tytler around 1800.
There is one configuration that has worked to reduce deficits. Republican congress, with a Democratic president. Nothing gets done, no big spending bills get passed and no big tax cuts get signed by the president. We had better deficit outturns in both the latter 6 years of Clinton and latter 6 years of Obama than in other settings.