Trump BURNS BILLIONS on D.C. MILITARY TAKEOVER!!!

Attorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian cover the $292 million contract the National Guard just signed with Placemakr, a corporate housing company, for 2,000 apartment-style units for troops deployed in D.C. It's the largest interagency lodging deal in National Guard history. The deployment started with 800 troops in August 2025 and has grown to 4,755 from 15 states. Researchers found the Guard had no measurable impact on violent crime, homicides, or gun crimes, which were already declining. Keeping troops deployed through January 2029 could push total costs to $4 billion, with the Senate Oversight Committee pegging the current rate at $3 million per day. Brian uses the episode to walk through the Third Amendment, the forgotten clause that prohibits quartering soldiers in private homes without consent. The Supreme Court has never heard a Third Amendment case. Brian traces the history from 17th-century England to the Quartering Acts of 1765 and 1774 to its inclusion in the Bill of Rights. This isn't a technical Third Amendment violation because the apartments are leased, not seized. But Shant calls it "authoritarian-lite": it starts with renting apartments, not seizing houses. DC residents have no say and can't vote out the federal power operating inside their jurisdiction. Brian's bottom line: the administration that created DOGE to cut spending is blowing $3 billion on an armed occupation of the capital that isn't reducing crime.

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