First, stop calling it a "moonshot." That only bolsters the Republican argument. They'd used the word at least 25 times before I got far enough into the article to know they weren't talking about experiments in space. Experiments a reasonable person might think it could be reasonable to cut.
You're talking to kids aping the derision they hear the pol pundits use. You're not going to get actual replies, just canned, vaguely relevant snark sounds to cover for their confusion. They're not ready to discuss manufactured consent here.