2015 was the best year - it's all downhill from there

I seem to remember that 2018 was supposed to have the lowest budget deficit and then it would go up slightly from there.

Well, according to the Monthly Budget Review: Summary for Fiscal Year 2017 , the actual budget deficits were as follows:

The budget deficit for FY2015 was $438 bn, for FY2016 $586 bn, and for FY2017 $666 bn.  2018 will certainly be higher, and in 2019 it will get out of control again.