{{short description|American conservative activist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Steve Deace | image = Steve Deace.jpg | caption = Steve Deace in 2025 | birth_name = Steven James Deace | birth_date = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1973|7|28}} | birth_place = {{nowrap|Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.}} | death_date = | death_place = | political_party = Independent<ref name="Berenson">{{Cite magazine |last=Berenson |first=Tessa |title=Meet the Republicans Who Say They'll Vote for Clinton |url=https://time.com/4317643/republican-party-donald-trump-ted-cruz-hillary-clinton-indiana |access-date=August 15, 2020 |magazine=Time |language=en-us}}</ref> | spouse = {{marriage|Amy Deace|1997}} | education = Michigan State University (attended) }} '''Steven James Deace''' (born July 28, 1973) is an American conservative talk show host<ref>{{Cite web|last=Alberta|first=Tim|title=The Governor of Trump's America|url=https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/29/kim-reynolds-iowa-governor-215318/|access-date=August 15, 2020|website=POLITICO Magazine|date=June 29, 2017 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="CalmesMedia">{{cite news |last1=Calmes |first1=Jackie |title=Steve Deace and the Power of Conservative Media |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/magazine/steve-deace-and-the-power-of-conservative-radio.html |accessdate=November 5, 2018 |publisher=The New York Times Magazine |date=November 3, 2015}}</ref><ref name="WalsheHitman">{{cite news |last1=Walshe |first1=Shushannah |title=Meet Steve Deace: Iowa Radio's Christian Conservative Hitmaker – and Hitman |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/meet-steve-deace-iowa-radios-christian-conservative-hitmaker-and-hitman/ |accessdate=November 5, 2018 |publisher=ABC News |date=December 9, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Glueck|first=Katie|title=Evangelicals still peeved over Pence's religious freedom act flip|url=http://politi.co/2lOF00i|access-date=August 15, 2020|website=POLITICO|date=July 15, 2016 |language=en}}</ref> and author. His program ''The Steve Deace Show'' is on the Blaze Media platform.
==Early life== Deace was born Steven James McNeely on July 28, 1973 to Vickie McNeely, who was 14 years old and not married at the time. She went on to raise him and one other child as a single mother in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area.<ref name="CalmesMedia" /> McNeely later married when Deace was three years old. Although he was not formally adopted, Deace bears his stepfather's surname. He attended Michigan State University in the early 1990s but later dropped out of school.<ref name="CalmesMedia" />
==Career== Deace's first job was as a sports reporter for ''The Des Moines Register''. He then hosted a sports talk show on KXNO (AM) and later an evening drive talk show on WHO (AM).<ref name="CalmesMedia"/> While at WHO, Deace endorsed and gave airtime to the Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee during the 2008 Iowa caucuses, which helped Huckabee win the state's presidential primary.<ref name="WalsheHitman"/> In 2010, he helped the successful campaign to defeat three members of the Iowa Supreme Court who approved same-sex marriage.<ref name="CalmesMedia"/>
Deace left WHO in early 2011 to launch a nationally-syndicated radio program, ''The Steve Deace Show'', on the Truth Radio Network. Later that year, Salem Radio Network picked up his program and moved it to primetime.<ref name="WalsheHitman"/>
During the 2012 election, Deace was a major critic of Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Citing Romney's changing positions on numerous political issues, Deace did not support Romney in either the primary or the general elections that year.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Margolis|first1=Jason|date=December 23, 2011 |title=Mitt Romney's Powerful Iowa Enemy Redoubles His Efforts|language=en-US|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/mitt-romneys-powerful-iowa-enemy-redoubles-his-efforts/250316/|access-date=September 23, 2023}}</ref>
[[File:AmericaFest 2025 - Steve Deace 02.jpg|thumb|left|Deace at AmericaFest 2025]]
Deace endorsed Ted Cruz for president in 2016 and worked as a senior campaign operative in Iowa for Cruz's presidential campaign. In February 2016, Cruz would go on to win the Iowa caucuses. After Cruz dropped out of the race in May 2016, he posted a voter registration form with a check mark next to "no party" in response to calls for Republican unity behind Donald Trump and his presidential campaign.<ref name="Berenson"/> When Ted Cruz endorsed Trump in September 2016, Deace said that it was "the worst political miscalculation of my lifetime.”<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=September 23, 2016|title=After bitter battles, Cruz says he will vote for Trump|url=https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/politics/after-bitter-battles-cruz-says-he-will-vote-for-trump/285-324800377|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200815060449/https://www.13wmaz.com/article/news/politics/after-bitter-battles-cruz-says-he-will-vote-for-trump/285-324800377|archive-date=2020-08-15|access-date=August 15, 2020|website=WMAZ|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=September 23, 2016|title=Ted Cruz backs down, endorses Donald Trump|url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2016/09/23/ted-cruz-backs-down-endorses-donald-trump/|access-date=August 15, 2020|website=Dallas News|language=en}}</ref> He went on to vote for the Constitution Party's candidate, Darrell Castle, in the general election.<ref>{{Cite tweet |user=stevedeaceshow |number=796066669831553024 |title=Deace voting for Darrell Castle}}</ref>
In 2017, Deace's program moved to CRTV, a conservative streaming platform.<ref>{{Cite news|date=February 13, 2017|title=Monday, February 13, 2017|language=en-US|work=Talkers|url=https://www.talkers.com/tag/steve-deace//|access-date=June 27, 2022|archive-date=August 11, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811015011/https://www.talkers.com/tag/steve-deace/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Later that year, he defended Steve Bannon's role in the White House and argued that it would be a mistake for Trump to fire Bannon because of the signal it would send to conservatives.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Peters|first1=Jeremy W.|last2=Haberman|first2=Maggie|date=April 12, 2017|title=Trump Undercuts Bannon, Whose Job May Be in Danger|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/12/us/politics/steve-bannon-white-house-trump.html|access-date=August 15, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 2018, his program moved to BlazeTV after CRTV merged with it.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Breuninger|first1=Kevin|date=December 3, 2018|title=Glenn Beck's The Blaze and Mark Levin's CRTV merge to form right-wing outlet Blaze Media, which could rival the new Fox News streaming service|language=en-US|work=CNBC|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/03/glenn-becks-the-blaze-and-mark-levins-crtv-merge-to-form-blaze-media.html|access-date=June 27, 2022}}</ref>
During the 2020 election, Deace announced he was voting for Trump.<ref>{{Cite tweet |user=stevedeaceshow |number=1288844042235764737 |title=Deace says he's voting for Trump}}</ref> When it appeared that Joe Biden was defeating Trump, Deace cast doubt about the validity of the vote in swing states and said, "When you went to bed Trump was ahead and the counting miraculously stopped. When you woke up it resumed, with Biden garnering Chavez-like totals in the dead of night. This is a coup."<ref>{{Cite web|date=November 5, 2020|title=Disinformation machine for Trump targets remaining swing states as Biden leads|url=https://theprint.in/world/disinformation-machine-for-trump-targets-remaining-swing-states-as-biden-leads/537482/|access-date=May 15, 2021|website=ThePrint}}</ref>
Deace is a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic, believing it to be part of a “depopulation scheme”.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Media Matters Staff |date=2023-03-27 |title=BlazeTV host Steve Deace: If COVID-19 vaccines weren't "a purposeful depopulation scheme ... what behavior would they have done differently, if it is one?" |url=https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-deace/blazetv-host-steve-deace-if-covid-19-vaccines-werent-purposeful-depopulation-scheme |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=Media Matters for America |language=en}}</ref> He has referred to vaccines as "poison".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Julia |date=2023-12-07 |title=Republican debate: Megyn Kelly pulls no punches with blunt questioning - Washington Examiner |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/2604310/republican-debate-megyn-kelly-pulls-no-punches-with-blunt-questioning/ |access-date=2024-09-12 |language=en-US}}</ref>
In August 2023, Deace endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential primary.<ref>{{Cite web | first=Katie | last=Akin | date=August 11, 2023 |title=Conservative talk show host Steve Deace endorses Gov. Ron DeSantis | url=https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2023/08/11/conservative-commentator-steve-deace-endorses-gov-ron-desantis/70576087007/ | website=Des Moines Register}}</ref>
==Personal life== He and his wife, Amy, have three children. Deace is a Christian and converted in 2003 after attending a Promise Keepers rally.<ref name="CalmesMedia" />
==Bibliography== ===Fiction=== * ''A Nefarious Plot''. Post Hill Press. 2016. {{ISBN|978-1-61-868823-1}} * ''A Nefarious Carol''. Post Hill Press. 2020. {{ISBN|978-1642937862}} * ''Richie Meets the Rainbow: A Heartwarming Tale of Childhood Enlightenment.'' Keynote Publishing. 2025. {{ISBN|979-8-9986359-2-2 }}
===Non-fiction=== * ''Rules for Patriots: How Conservatives Can Win Again''. Post Hill Press. 2014. {{ISBN|978-1618689900}} * ''Truth Bombs: Confronting the Lies Conservatives Believe (To Our Own Demise)''. Post Hill Press. 2019 {{ISBN|978-1642930221}} * ''Faucian Bargain: The Most Powerful and Dangerous Bureaucrat in American History''. Post Hill Press. 2021. {{ISBN|979-8495352636}} * ''Do What You Believe: Or You Won’t Be Free to Believe It Much Longer''. 2022. {{ISBN|978-1637586075}} * ''Rise of the Fourth Reich: Confronting COVID Fascism with a New Nuremberg Trial, So This Never Happens Again''. 2023. {{ISBN|978-1637587522}}
==See also== * ''Nefarious'' - 2023 horror film based on Deace's 2016 novel ''A Nefarious Plot''.
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{C-SPAN|98418}} *{{IMDb name|2402664}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Deace, Steve}} Category:American talk radio hosts Category:1973 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American novelists Category:American anti-abortion activists Category:American anti-same-sex-marriage activists Category:American political podcasters Category:American writers of Italian descent Category:Blaze Media people Category:Converts to Christianity Category:Iowa independents Category:Protestants from Iowa Category:Writers from Des Moines, Iowa Category:Writers from Grand Rapids, Michigan Category:American conservative talk radio hosts