Earlier quoted context omitted.
This has been an explicit aim of the American right since the Reagan administration. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starve_the_beast
Reagan was in office almost 40 years ago. We have had 24 years of Republican Presidents during that time. Have we: 1) Rolled back social security or Medicare? 2) Rolled back the administrative state in any respect? 3) Developed any significant power back to the states? None of that happened. Government spending as a percentage of GDP increased, from 30% to 35%. Just more slowly than in the immediate post-New Deal era…
The suggestion here is that the Republicans aren't able to pull back these social programs because even their own constituents would be up in arms. The next best strategy is to so thoroughly break the Federal Government that no one would support it anymore.