Washington’s recent deficit-blowout should finally kill the “starve the beast” hypothesis. This idea – which initially caught fire with conservatives in the 1980s – is that the most effective way to shrink government is to first cut taxes and “starve” the government of funding. At that point, the hypothesis goes, deficit-focused politicians will have no choice but to reduce spending accordingly.

So how does “starve the beast” explain that – just 49 days after signing into law the largest tax cut in 16 years – President Trump signed the largest spending expansion in 8 years?