Per launch, how much payload mass can be orbited and then injected into a translunar trajectory? What is the minimum mass of a base worth the name? And most importantly, why is no one willing to push back on such mere and flagrant nonsense as this by asking these questions?
You could house every homeless Americans for 18 months for that cost.
most people don't become homeless because they don't have a house, but because they lost/lack the way to keep one. And not only on the financial plane.