The US had a fiscal surplus under Clinton and would have one today if it weren’t for the Bush and Trump tax cuts.
Figure 1: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/why-the-national-de...
Figure 1: https://www.americanprogress.org/article/why-the-national-de...
https://www.crfb.org/papers/riches-rags-causes-fiscal-deteri...
>Rising spending relative to GDP explains about two-thirds of the growth in annual budget deficits since 2001, while declining revenue explains one-third.
>Most debt (77% of GDP) can be attributed to bipartisan legislation.
See also the "Debt Under Various Counterfactuals" projection, where the debt would have been roughly the same under two scenarios, "Without Major Tax Cuts" and "Without Major Spending Increases".
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/how-debt-got-100-gdp-riches-rags-...
the big spend since 2001 was going to war
I'm not sure how you could possibly narrow the issue down to two presidents' tax cuts alone. What about all the war spending? Or money printing? Or a partially implemented half step towards socialized health care?
Both parties are responsible for the debt we hold today, they have just argued about what to spend it on along the way.
Where exactly we can find causes of our massive debt is an interesting question, and almost certainly wouldn't fall solely on tax cuts from two presidents.
Whether you agree with the current president or the insane things he sometimes says (I don't) is entirely separate.