Fourth & Democracy | March Madness, Nike’s GOP Spending, and Mackenzie Scott’s Billion-Dollar Giving

Welcome to Fourth & Democracy: where the playbook meets the public square.

It feels like we’re due for a bit of a reset.

The chaos the Trump regime throws at us every day has a way of pulling everything into its orbit, and somewhere along the way I feel like it dragged Fourth & Democracy off its original path. The goal of this newsletter was never to replicate the chaos of the news cycle, it was to give readers a breather, dig into culture and sports, and offer something for people who follow politics but don’t feel the need to live inside it 24/7.

This week we’re getting back to basics, which honestly feels necessary right now. We’re about six-and-a-half months out from the midterms, March Madness is tipping off, and people are leaning into their daily lives a little more, even as the mob boss in chief managed to start another war.

So consider this a small break from the noise while we keep one eye on the world around us.

Lincoln Square also hit its one-year anniversary this week, which is pretty incredible. There’s a lot of content coming your way, and none of it would exist without the support you’ve shown this independent outlet since day one. Personally, I’m grateful every time I get to bring you this newsletter and I thank you for being here.

Let’s get started.

1st & 10: The Magic of March Madness

Young men and women’s hoops dreams are alive and well across the country as the NCAA tournament begins.

It’s one of the most magical times of year for sports fans – not just because of the basketball, but because of what it represents. For thousands of college players across Division I programs, the season has led to a chance to compete on the biggest stage in college athletics with the whole world watching.

For casual fans, the tournament is simple: the NCAA selects 68 teams for both men’s and women’s tournaments. Thirty-one earn automatic bids by winning their conference tournaments, while the remaining spots are filled by the NCAA selection committee that evaluates teams’ records, strength of schedule, and advanced metrics.

The action begins with the “First Four” play-in games in Dayton, Ohio where eight teams compete for the final four spots in the main bracket. From there, the tournament becomes a 64-team single-elimination bracket divided into four regions. Win six games in a row and you’re crowned national champions. Lose once, and the dream is over.

That do-or-die format is what makes March Madness so special. Cinderella stories emerge every year as lower-seeded schools upset powerhouses, turning previously unknown players into overnight household names.

This year’s tournament comes with plenty of storylines. On the men’s side, Duke enters the tournament with serious momentum after winning another ACC title and is likely to be a No. 1 overall seed, giving the Blue Devils odds at being the championship favorite.

The women’s tournament is just as hard-hitting. Powerhouses like UConn, South Carolina, Texas, and UCLA are expected to anchor the bracket, with undefeated runs and conference dominance setting up one of the most competitive fields in years.

Whether you’re a die-hard bracketologist who was ready and waiting for Selection Sunday or someone filling out a bracket in the office pool for the first time, this is the moment when college basketball becomes something bigger than the sport itself.

For the next few weeks, dreams, heartbreak, and being crowned champions will share the same court.

2nd & Long: Nike Founder’s Problematic Political Contributions

Phil Knight built what is arguably the most successful athletic apparel company in history. Nike is a cultural powerhouse that generates billions in sales every year, a global brand built on a supply chain that relies heavily on inexpensive labor overseas. The result is a product so deeply embedded in modern sports that nearly every major professional league features athletes wearing Nike shoes and apparel, whether through choice, sponsorship, or league rules.

Sports and politics have always overlapped, but sometimes the contradictions become impossible to ignore.

Nike has spent the past decade carefully cultivating a progressive public image. The company has embraced athlete activism, backed campaigns centered around racial justice, and positioned itself as a cultural ally to leagues like the NBA and WNBA – two organizations that have openly encouraged players to speak about social and political issues.

But the politics of the man who built the brand tell a more complicated story.

Knight, who remains one of Oregon’s most powerful political donors, has repeatedly poured money into Republican campaigns and conservative political efforts in his home state. Over the years, he has donated millions to candidates who support policies that run counter to the values Nike’s marketing frequently celebrates.

Last week, campaign finance filings showed that Knight recently donated $1 million to the gubernatorial campaign of former NBA center Chris Dudley, a Republican candidate running to lead the state of Oregon. Dudley, who played 16 seasons in the NBA and previously ran for governor in 2010, has positioned himself as a pro-business conservative looking to challenge Democratic control in the state.

There is nothing illegal about Knight’s political spending. Billionaires fund campaigns across the political spectrum every election cycle. But the contradiction is difficult to ignore: a brand that markets itself through progressive cultural messaging remains tied to a man trying to move state politics in a much more conservative direction.

In today’s sports economy, even the Nike swoosh casts a political shadow.

3rd & Short: Spring Training in Full Swing

Spring Training is officially underway, which means the long grind of the MLB season is just around the corner.

All 30 teams have been in camp across Arizona’s Cactus League and Florida’s Grapefruit League, where veterans are shaking off the rust and prospects are trying to make their way onto Opening Day rosters. Games began in late February and teams will break camp into their regular rosters in the coming week before the regular season begins on March 25 with the Yankees visiting the Giants, followed by a full slate of games on March 26.

Spring always brings the storylines and injuries are already shaping rosters. Setbacks include the Giants losing young pitcher Hayden Birdsong to a Tommy John injury that could keep him out for the entire season.

At the same time, the Mets received a boost this week when shortstop Francisco Lindor returned to Grapefruit League action after surgery in the offseason.

Roster battles are heating up and prospects are making early impressions, so the next two weeks will decide how things look for the long season ahead.

4th & Democracy: She’s Not His ‘Ex-Wife’ Anymore

Something that’s been driving me nuts lately, and I’m sure it’s irritated women for a lot longer than it has bothered me, is the tendency of major publications to frame Mackenzie Scott’s unprecedented philanthropy by introducing her as “the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.”

It’s become a habit, almost a reflex in headline writing. A woman donates billions of dollars – $26 billion since 2019 – to schools, charities, and community organizations across the country, and somehow the defining detail isn’t the scale of the giving, it’s the man she used to be married to.

At some point, it’s worth asking why that framing persists and it’s about time we stopped doing it.

Scott continued her record-setting philanthropy this week with another major gift to higher education, donating $42 million to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) to support historically Black colleges and universities across the country. The donation is one of the largest contributions to the organization in recent years and will help expand scholarships, strengthen institutional resources, and support long-term funding for HBCUs that have historically had to operate with fewer financial resources than predominantly white institutions

Scott has become one of the most significant philanthropic supporters of HBCUs in the country, contributing well over $1 billion to Black colleges and universities since 2020 as part of her broader effort to redistribute her wealth through unrestricted grants to education and community organizations.

The habit of publications inserting her ex-husband into headlines for clicks distracts from the actual significance of these donations. Jeff Bezos is not the mythologized “self-made man” his publicists and the legion of dorks who worship him often portray. His parents provided him with substantial financial support in Amazon’s early days. And during the company’s founding years, Mackenzie Scott played a meaningful role as both a partner and supporter while Bezos built the business that would eventually make him one of the richest men in the world.

When Scott divorced Bezos, she received a portion of that wealth as compensation for the role she played in building a company that reshaped the global economy. What she has done with it since then is what deserves the headline.

Scott has spent the years following the divorce giving billions of dollars away to schools, nonprofits, and community organizations across the country. To minimize her identity to “the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos” ignores not only the scale of that work, but the reality that many women contribute to the success of world-changing companies without ever receiving equal recognition for it.

Mackenzie Scott is not defined by a marriage that ended years ago. She is a philanthropist, a mother, a businesswoman – and honestly, the clearest example of what billionaires should be doing with their wealth: using it to make other people’s lives better.

What to Watch

You all know that March Madness is on. You know the latest on Netflix, Hulu, and your favorite Networks – so what I want you to focus on this week is the First Anniversary of Lincoln Square content we have going on.

All of your favorite personalities — Rick Wilson, Maya May, Stuart Stevens, Joe Trippi, Edwin Eisendrath, & our Executive Editor Susan J. Demas — will be live with special guests all week. You won’t want to miss what we have in store to celebrate one year with the Lincoln Loyal.

Guests like Mehdi Hasan, Jay Kuo, and Katrina Vanden Heuvel will be joining the crew!

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