September 19, 2025, 11:45am

Copyright for featured image: Apple TV+

I was trolling the internet, looking for something amusing to temporarily lighten the devastating blow of Robert Redford’s passing, when I found a bright bit of comedy in a Mashable article. The author, Kristy Puchko, points out that, within the show Platonic starring Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen, there is a TV series that sounds both like a hilarious spoof and a tantalizing television possibility: The Young Darcy Mysteries.

Yes, you heard that right. A TV series where a young Fitzwilliam Darcy solves crimes.

Is this ridiculous? Blasphemous, even? Yes. And yet, Ms. Puchko is VERY CORRECT when she says she needs it to be real. I, too, need it to be real.

Come on, you know you’d find it delightful. Especially if the spoofiness remains intact. I don’t want a Young Darcy Mysteries that thinks it’s on par with P&P adaptations… I want a tongue-in-cheek series that is aware of all the dimensions it’s sending up. A Murder by Death or a Clue, but set in the world of Jane Austen. This is just MY preference, but I did once make a fake trailer for a fake adaptation of Walden in which Henry David Thoreau is a zombie hunter. So, again… I think the series should spoof all the stuff that inspired it, but also to have fun with the subject.

The Young Darcy Mysteries is mentioned in Episode 8 of Season Two. A teenager describes it as “It’s like the biggest show on… it’s a prequel to Pride and Prejudice but from the perspective of Mr. Darcy when he was young. Also, Mr. Darcy is a detective, a fencer, a boxer, a dirigible test pilot, and an amateur chemist.” Milo Manheim plays the actor playing Young Darcy.

The teenager and her father even watch an episode. It seems hilarious. I want more.

So… what’s Platonic going to do about it? Come on. Let’s get the movement going.

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The answer, in Dina Powell McCormick and Sen. Dave McCormick’s case, is a very long list of people.

The couple’s new book, “Who Believed in You?” taps into their vast Rolodex — spanning politics, technology, entertainment, finance and fashion — to share how instrumental mentors have been in the lives of the people running the world today.

“We wanted people to see that, whatever your profession, someone helped you get there,” Powell told me. “Americans today can be that person for someone else.”

The book’s index is the ultimate list of name-checks. Tory Burch, David Chang, Condoleezza Rice and Brian Grazer all make appearances, as do presidents. (Powell worked for two: George W. Bush as Sr. White House Advisory, and Donald Trump as Deputy National Security Advisory.)

Dina Powell McCormick and Sen. Dave McCormick wrote “Who Believed in You” during pandemic lockdown, when they saw the impact the isolation had on their daughters. REUTERS

Lloyd Blankfein, who Powell identifies as one of her most important mentors, is even quoted — jokingly referring to himself as Powell’s “tormentor” for the challenging feedback he gave her.

The book is worth a read for the inside accounts of how the rich and powerful got where they are. (Microsoft’s Satya Nadella credits Doug Burgum for helping him become a CEO — who knew?) But it also highlights just how pivotal it is to build deep relationships, to find success and meaning.

Powell acknowledges it sounds “corny.” But she sees a real American crisis in terms of how many young people are lonely and lost — in large part because Gen Z hasn’t been challenged to get where they are supposed to go. This book is her and her husband’s effort to spark a movement of adults who will mentor and believe in the next generation.

“One of the most transformative experiences of my life has been building deep relationships with mentors and mentees,” she told me. “This could be the moment to ignite a mentoring movement where people truly believe in the power of investing in one another.”

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon made a cameo at Powell’s Manhattan event this week, praising her as “a better banker with more and better relationships than many big finance CEOs.” Courtesy of Dina Powell

It seemed to strike a chord with attendees at a packed event — hosted by Mary Erdoes, CEO of the asset and wealth management division at JPMorgan — celebrating the book earlier this week.

More than 300 women from firms all across Wall Street — including BDT & MSD Partners (where Powell is Vice Chairman), Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan — were on hand. Franklin Templeton’s Jenny Johnson, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser and Goldman Sachs’ Asahi Pompey joined Powell to candidly describe the self-doubt and tears (even in the office bathroom) it took to get to the top of their game.

It was a powerhouse crowd, with JPMorgan’s Kristin Lemkau, PR maven Desiree Gruber, Jessica Seinfeld, Wendi Murdoch, Amy Griffin, and Margaret Anadau.

Jamie Dimon also made a cameo, praising Powell as “a better banker with more and better relationships than many big finance CEOs. She’s the full package — doing it all at the highest levels, in an industry where women were historically disadvantaged, especially when she started out.”

Powell acknowledges it sounds “corny,” but she sees a real American crisis in terms of how many young people are lonely and lost. Courtesy of Dina Powell

What struck Powell most about the event, she told me, wasn’t the attendees’ focus on climbing the corporate ladder. “These women weren’t asking about their next promotion,” she said. “They were hungry for purpose — meaningful lives, not just successful careers.”

Powell herself immigrated to the US from Egypt with her family at age six, not knowing a word of English, and went on to work in the White House, become a partner at Goldman Sachs and, now, serve as vice chair at Byron Trott, Gregg Lemkau and Michael Dell’s investment firm.

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McCormick attended West Point and served in the first Gulf War. He later became CEO of hedge fund behemoth Bridgewater Associates for more than a decade before being elected as the junior senator from Pennsylvania.

At the event, it was remarkably hopeful to hear from five different women about how they created their American dream at a time when more than three-quarters of respondents believe the next generation will be worse off than they are, according to a Pew Research Center study. More than half of Generation Z also say they are either pessimistic or feel unprepared for the future, according to a Gallup and Walton Family Foundation report.

The deep relationships with mentors and mentees that Powell helped her launch initiatives including Goldman’s 10,000 Women and 10,000 Small Businesses which provide entrepreneurs business education, mentorship and access to capital. Colleagues who launched the program with her spoke at the event along with some of their mentees.

Powell adds, “We hope people will … ask themselves three questions: Who believed in you? Have you thanked them? And who will you believe in and invest in? If we all ask ourselves those questions, we can make a huge impact in the country.”

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Yes, you read that right. The BlackRock CEO fat cat the political right had loved to hate has suddenly become the darling of the MAGA movement following his $22.8 billion purchase of ports from Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison, including, very importantly, two in the Panama Canal zone.

The deal is big in size and significance since those Panama Canal ports are now no longer run by a Hong Kong company and under Chinese control; they are now in the hands of a US corporation, something President Trump demanded upon taking office just weeks ago. “China is operating the Panama Canal. And we didn’t give it to China,” the president said in his inaugural address, no less. “We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.”

Fink did just that, and it marks one of the craziest 180s I have ever seen covering the confluence of politics and finance for 30 years. 

After being the bane of conservatives everywhere for years, largely for his support of lefty ­Environmental Social Governance investing, Mr. ESG has become Mr. MAGA in the eyes of the Republican faithful. GOP critics, who tried to cancel BlackRock contracts in Red State America, are looking to back down.

“Larry just pulled one the biggest political upsets ever” is how one deal lawyer described Fink’s new status.

Truth be told, Fink is still a staunch Democrat. His woke rep obscured his acumen as a businessman. He created BlackRock from scratch nearly 30 years ago and grew it into a colossus, the world’s largest asset manager. He saw money in ESG and then saw money leaving it behind when the political climate changed.

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Over the years, he’s has cultivated some the biggest clients in the world. He manages money for sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and lots of rich people — including, for a time, a certain real estate developer-turned-reality TV star named Donald J Trump.

Close relationship

He and the now-president remain close, an important plus in their Panama Canal dealings. Recall, it was Trump during his first term, meeting with bankers at the White House, who spotted Fink and said “Larry did a great job for me. He managed a lot of my money. I have to tell you, he got me great returns.”

Being smart about markets and sensing how the political winds blow is also how Fink got interested in CK Hutchison. The conglomerate, among other businesses, controls 43 ports around the world, including several very important to global shipping, in places like the Suez Canal and two buttressing the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal connection is key, given its importance to the US economy and trade. The shipping lane was created around the turn of the last century by the US government; it slices through the five-mile isthmus to connect the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. You didn’t have to go around South America to get to China and Japan, just through the Panama Canal.

The US controlled the canal until 1977 when it turned it over to the government of Panama, and ever since, the relationship between the countries has been fraught. Panama was run by a drug trafficker, Gen. Manuel Noriega, whom in 1990 the US military arrested after a land invasion.

More recently, the Panama tension surrounded the Chinese, increasingly our global nemesis, with canal access a means to exert its economic and military power. 

In 1997, Hutchison secured the rights to the canal’s two vital ports through 2046, which to many translates into de facto Chinese control of a valued shipping lane given the control exerted by the ruling Chinese Communist Party on China Inc.

Fink, meanwhile, saw a way to make money and appease the Trumpers in DC. Increasingly the firm had been investing and developing infrastructure around the world, and Hutchison was ripe for a buyout.

It was profitable, making really good money after COVID when ports became jammed in a supply-chain crisis. Yet Wall Street somehow didn’t like the company. Maybe it was the Chinese connection since pols in both major parties have been throttling deals by any company with China ties. Either way, Fink and his team noticed that Hutchison’s stock was trading at just around 30% of its so-called “book value,” the value of its assets minus liabilities.

It was, in a word, cheap.

Talks between both sides have been off-and-on for years. (BlackRock was thinking about just buying its stock.) When Trump took office and began mentioning the need to retake the Panama Canal from the Chinese (not exactly accurate but close enough for deal-making purposes), Hutchison was ready to move as was Fink.

Ties to Trump

The company met with other private equity players — Blackstone, KKR — but settled on BlackRock given what Fink brought to the table. He acquired a world-class infrastructure firm in 2024 and, of course, he still has his relationship with Trump, who could block any deal through any of several US regulatory agencies.

After working through the Trump Cabinet last weekend just before the deal was inked, Fink called Trump directly to break the news. “Trump was thrilled,” one person with knowledge of the conversation stated, and a MAGA star was born.

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