When did the GOP ever know how to control spending? Reagan reprioritized our existential threat from the Soviet bloc over encouraging bad behavior, and his revenue plan worked in the long run (thanks to the whatshisface’s curve), but he never came close to controlling spending. And Eisenhower, Nixon and Bush all lit rockets under the growth of big government.
Newt Gingrich and the Congressional Republicans did manage to balance the budget in the late '90s.
Then, George W. Bush started pushing "compassionate" conservatism and that destroyed any fiscal discipline the party had.