Written by Doug Goodnough
Tyler O’Neil, ’12, likes to write what people want to read. So when he started working on a book in February 2024 that detailed the “dark money” manipulating the federal government, he hoped it would be a relevant topic.
Fast forward to November 5, 2024. When Donald Trump was re-elected as president, he introduced a new agency, the Department of Government Efficiency, which would take a look at the spending and operations of every area of the federal government. Since President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025, the word “DOGE” is now front and center in the American vernacular.
Enter O’Neil’s book titled The Woketopus: The Dark Money Cabal Manipulating the Federal Government, which released the day after the inauguration.
“I knew the book was going to come out on the day after the inauguration,” O’Neil said. “And when Trump won, I was overjoyed for the country, but I thought, ‘What is my book really going to do?’”
O’Neil describes his second book as one that “exposes the far-left activist groups that infiltrated and brainwashed the federal government under Joe Biden’s term—and why this large influence campaign remains relevant after Biden left office.” Woketopus is currently performing well on sites like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and O’Neil has been on several television networks promoting the book. He was also asked to testify before the House of Representatives’ DOGE Subcommittee on February 26.
“What’s also great about the book is that I talked about so many different issues that I really care about and have been researching a lot,” said O’Neil, who is currently the senior editor at The Daily Signal, an independent conservative news organization. “I just really love writing and getting into the thick of things.”
O’Neil, who settled in the Washington, D.C., area soon after graduating from Hillsdale, said he is a “political junkie.” However, his time in the classroom at Hillsdale was anything but political. The history major said he immersed himself in areas like western intellectual history, ancient and medieval philosophy, nineteenth-century Europe, and the history of American religion.
“I think my least political time in my life was when I was at Hillsdale, because I was able to really delve into the foundations of things,” said O’Neil, who also was a member of the Mu Alpha music honorary. “I always wanted to study abroad. But every semester at Hillsdale offered too many amazing things for me, so I ended up staying on campus. I had extra credits and could have graduated early, but I really didn’t want to because I loved Hillsdale so much.”
He did some writing for The Collegian and started the short-lived Hillsdale Natural Law Review. He said internships at National Review, the National Journalism Center, and the Washington Free Beacon also helped him prepare for a career in journalism.
After starting his career as a freelance journalist, he accepted a full-time position as a reporter for The Christian Post. He also was a columnist and editor at D.C.-based PJ Media, then worked briefly as a digital editor at Fox News Media before finding a home at The Daily Signal.
As senior editor, a position he just started in February, he said he can focus on his writing and future projects. One of his colleagues is noted historian and Hillsdale Distinguished Fellow Victor Davis Hanson, from whom O’Neil took a class at Hillsdale.
“Seeing him work with us, it’s been fantastic,” O’Neil said of Hanson, who records a daily video with The Daily Signal. “He’s obviously brilliant.”
O’Neil also recently hired and trained Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell, ’24, who now serves as The Daily Signal’s White House correspondent.
“We’ve really just thrown her in, but she has been able to develop scoops, develop really great, important relationships with members of Congress and with many excellent sources,” O’Neil said of Mitchell. “She is phenomenal.”
When he’s not covering politics, he and his wife, Katie, like to play board games and spend time with their two children. They also like to attend comic book conventions dressed as The Lord of the Rings characters.
“We’ve gotten pictures with most of the cast of The Lord of the Rings,” O’Neil said. “It’s just a fun thing we like to do. We’re big nerds.”
O’Neil said the audio book version of Woketopus is scheduled for release in April. He is hoping to begin another book project in the near future.
“I want to write a book about the fight against the deep state,” said O’Neil, whose first book is titled Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of The Southern Poverty Law Center. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to justify that or not. It’s just a great time to be in D.C. Everything is happening there right now.”
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in March 2025
