steve deace blaze tv
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mma Tags: Steve Deace pretty freq, islamophobe
scare women of color
jenna pal
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Steven James Deace (born July 28, 1973) is an American conservative talk show host[2][3][4][5]^ 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.[3]^ 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.[3]^
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).[3]^ 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.[4]^ In 2010, he helped the successful campaign to defeat three members of the Iowa Supreme Court who approved same-sex marriage.[3]^
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.[4]^
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.[6]^
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.[1]^ When Ted Cruz endorsed Trump in September 2016, Deace said that it was "the worst political miscalculation of my lifetime.”[7][8]^ He went on to vote for the Constitution Party's candidate, Darrell Castle, in the general election.[9]^
In 2017, Deace's program moved to CRTV, a conservative streaming platform.[10]^ 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.[11]^ In 2018, his program moved to BlazeTV after CRTV merged with it.[12]^
During the 2020 election, Deace announced he was voting for Trump.[13]^ 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."[14]^
Deace is a COVID-19 vaccine skeptic, believing it to be part of a “depopulation scheme”.[15]^ He has referred to vaccines as "poison".[16]^
In August 2023, Deace endorsed Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential primary.[17]^
Personal life
He and his wife, Amy, have three children. Deace is a Christian and converted in 2003 after attending a Promise Keepers rally.[3]^
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
- Berenson, Tessa. "Meet the Republicans Who Say They'll Vote for Clinton". Time. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Alberta, Tim (June 29, 2017). "The Governor of Trump's America". POLITICO Magazine. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Calmes, Jackie (November 3, 2015). "Steve Deace and the Power of Conservative Media". The New York Times Magazine. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- Walshe, Shushannah (December 9, 2011). "Meet Steve Deace: Iowa Radio's Christian Conservative Hitmaker – and Hitman". ABC News. Retrieved November 5, 2018.
- Glueck, Katie (July 15, 2016). "Evangelicals still peeved over Pence's religious freedom act flip". POLITICO. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Margolis, Jason (December 23, 2011). "Mitt Romney's Powerful Iowa Enemy Redoubles His Efforts". The Atlantic. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
- "After bitter battles, Cruz says he will vote for Trump". WMAZ. September 23, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- "Ted Cruz backs down, endorses Donald Trump". Dallas News. September 23, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- @stevedeaceshow (November 8, 2016). "Deace voting for Darrell Castle" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Monday, February 13, 2017". Talkers. February 13, 2017. Archived from the original on August 11, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- Peters, Jeremy W.; Haberman, Maggie (April 12, 2017). "Trump Undercuts Bannon, Whose Job May Be in Danger". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- Breuninger, Kevin (December 3, 2018). "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". CNBC. Retrieved June 27, 2022.
- @stevedeaceshow (July 30, 2020). "Deace says he's voting for Trump" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "Disinformation machine for Trump targets remaining swing states as Biden leads". ThePrint. November 5, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- Media Matters Staff (March 27, 2023). "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?"". Media Matters for America. Retrieved August 16, 2023.
- Johnson, Julia (December 7, 2023). "Republican debate: Megyn Kelly pulls no punches with blunt questioning - Washington Examiner". Retrieved September 12, 2024.
- Akin, Katie (August 11, 2023). "Conservative talk show host Steve Deace endorses Gov. Ron DeSantis". Des Moines Register.
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- Steve Deace offers up some messaging advice for the GOP heading into the midterm elections: "We're running against Marxists. They'll ruin the country. You can't let them win. We need more time."
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02/03/2026
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Katy Faust, the anti-marriage-equality activist who has organized a new religious-right coalition to overturn the Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling, has been making the rounds of right-wing podcasts and revealing more details about the coalition’s strategy since last week’s campaign launch.
Faust told far-right Christian nationalist podcaster Steve Deace, who she identified as part of the campaign’s influencer network, that the launch was “a real success.” The fact that Faust has chosen to partner with Deace, who has repeatedly called for violence against his political opponents, surely says something about the win-at-all-costs values she is bringing to the campaign.
So does the fact that the campaign’s website falsely implies that former President Barack Obama is backing the campaign. The website features a photo of Obama alongside anti-equality advocates Charlie Kirk, Allie Beth Stuckey, and Seth Dillon, and quotes Obama saying, “We know that children benefit not just from loving mothers and loving fathers, but from strong and loving marriages as well.” The quote comes from a 2010 event promoting responsible fatherhood; Obama has been a supporter of marriage equality since 2012.
Central to Faust’s argument is her claim that children are terribly harmed by any family configuration other than being raised by their forever-married biological father and mother. That is certainly a contested claim, to say the least. Even the conservative Washington Times recognized that the research is not as one-sided as Faust pretends, linking to a Cornell University review showing that 75 out of 79 studies “concluded that children of gay or lesbian parents fare no worse than other children.”
Faust says she supports the dignity and equality of LGBTQ people—except for marriage—but she is partnering with groups that have a long record of demeaning LGBTQ people and opposing every advance toward legal equality. And she herself uses language that evokes historic smears of LGBTQ people as predators, saying the campaign’s message will be, “Don’t touch the kids.”
“We have ten years of receipts of how gay marriage has victimized children,” she told the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins. She talked about “the carnage that has been inflicted on children” by marriage equality, and claimed, “There is a direct connection between gay marriage and child victimization.”
Central to the campaign’s messaging is that gay couples, single people who want to be parents, and some infertile married couples are just being selfish when they choose to parent or use IVF technology in ways that deprive children of what Faust calls a fundamental right to their mother and father. In a “just society” grounded in a “biblical worldview,” Faust told American Family Radio host Jenna Ellis, some of those adults will just have to live with not getting what they want. In an interview with Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, Faust sneered at gay couples’ “acquisition of a child that doesn’t belong to them.”
The campaign’s “Greater Than” name and logo (a direct aim at the Human Rights Campaign’s well-known equal sign) points to a messaging strategy grounded in the idea that children’s interests in being raised by their biological parents in traditional married-forever families trumps selfish adult “desires” and longings.”
During her appearances and interviews, Faust has identified a three-prong campaign strategy that is also outlined on the campaign’s website.
- A judicial strategy focused on the supposed harm to children caused by marriage equality. “The real question before the court is not ‘does gay marriage provide some kind of inconvenience for Christian adults,’” she says, “The question before the court needs to be ‘do children need, benefit from, and have a right to their own mother and father.” This strategy will rely on “courageous” legislators to pass laws that will allow the campaign to bring their question before the courts, the way anti-abortion activists worked with state legislators to pass anti-abortion laws designed to get the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. “We’ve got options for legislators,” Faust one interviewer. Presumably this will include state laws permitting or requiring discrimination against same-sex couples.
- A public relations campaign to change public opinion, which is currently solidly in favor of marriage equality. This effort will rely on getting the public to “understand the threat that gay marriage poses to children,” Faust says. This effort is starting with Christian conservatives and Republicans to get them on the same page, and will then turn to the “influenceable middle.” The message to them—and to the courts—will be that “you can’t support gay marriage and believe children need their mother and father.”
- A campaign to turn churches into “a child-centered fighting force.” To mobilize churches in a campaign against marriage equality, Faust says, the campaign will develop materials for both Protestants and Catholics.
Faust heads her own anti-marriage-equality group, Them Before Us, which is also the name of the weekend show she hosts on American Family Radio, the network of the Christian nationalist American Family Association. AFA and Them Before Us are listed as “core allies” of the campaign, along with Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, and the Colson Center. In her interview with Ellis, Faust said that the campaign has already grown from the 47 groups identified at the launch.
In an interview with Luke Martin on the UnBelievable podcast, Faust discussed her belief in male “headship” in church and family, saying that “egalitarian mindsets in essence make men optional in the two places where human formation takes place the most seriously and dramatically.” She described what she called “self-evident” gender roles of women as nurturers and men as protectors and other differences between men and women as “the biological design of our species.”
Faust decried the “feminization” of universities and the law, saying “in both of those spheres, when women become the heads, what you see is a deprioritization of truth and justice and an elevation of ‘can’t we all just get along.’”
Faust told Martin that sexual fulfillment has become the top “cultural god,” adding that “when sex becomes a God, children are the required sacrifice.” She mocked women who leave unhappy marriages where there is no abuse. “You have to get yourself a new God,” she said, adding that “the Christian, the biblical narrative” is the only overarching narrative that will lead to flourishing for children and adults.
In the same interview, Faust revealed that her parents divorced when she was growing up and that her mother entered what is now a 40-year relationship with another woman. Faust said she loves them both “so much” and considers her mother’s partner a friend. Faust is married to a pastor; she gave birth to three children and then adopted a fourth from China.
“And then the gay marriage debate arrived on the door of my state,” she said, and she began her anti-marriage-equality work as an anonymous blogger before starting her nonprofit in 2018.
RWW
Steve Deace Urges Trump To 'Stop Trying To Be Reasonable' Amid Anti-ICE Protests
01/29/2026
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Steve Deace is a far-right broadcaster who has repeatedly called for violence against his political opponents, including openly declaring that he wants to see "antifa members hanging from gallows in Trump ties." Predictably, Deace is livid about the anti-ICE protests that have been occurring in Minnesota and is calling on President Donald Trump to "stop trying to be reasonable" and embrace the authoritarian label by making an example out of those who have dared to resist him.
Appearing on "The Eric Metaxas Show" earlier this week, Deace was outraged that Trump seems to be "afraid of being branded authoritarian."
"We get called that no matter what we do anyway," Deace fumed. "So why don't we actually pass the legislation that we want, that we believe in? If they're going to call us that no matter what we do, stop trying to be reasonable."
"Why get all the blowback for what we say we're going to do and what we claim to believe and then not follow through?" he added. "We might [as well] get some of the benefit for it."
"Someone must be made an example out of," Deace proclaimed. "A community must be made an example out of so it's a cautionary tale, so that everybody still knows what Sodom and Gomorrah means. It's been 4,000 years; everybody knows. An example must be made. We've not made an example out of anybody yet."
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Jesse Kelly And Steve Deace Hypocritically Decry The Left's 'Political Sadism'
09/17/2025
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In the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the entire right-wing movement has, after years of likening their political opponents to Hitler and the Nazis, suddenly declared that such language is unacceptable and dangerous when it is used by the left.
Predictably, those decrying this sort of language have used it repeatedly themselves and are even openly calling for violence in response to Kirk's murder.
This hypocrisy was on full display during a recent episode of "I'm Right with Jesse Kelly."
Kelly, himself a far-right broadcaster who has likened his opponents to Nazis and declared that he wants to see a "monster" unleash authoritarianism against communists, blamed Democrats for Kirk's murder.
"The people who are mentally shattered, the people who don't value human life, they hear Democrat after Democrat, media person after media person talk about, 'We're at war with Hitler—Nazi, Hitler, Nazi, Hitler'—and they hear orders," Kelly said. "Democrats are terrified right now. American communists are terrified right now. They are terrified because one of their pets took things too far, killed somebody who was beloved, and now the right is filled with a righteous anger, and we want communism snuffed out completely in this country, and the communists know it."
"They know that was probably too far; uh-oh, oopsie, we look bad, everyone knows we're demons," Kelly added. "Now is the time to purge them from our shores."
Kelly then fumed about Republicans like Sen. Katie Britt for calling for unity in the aftermath of Kirk's murder.
"No," Kelly said. "No peace with demons."
Video URL
Seemingly unaware that calling your opponents communists and demons who must be snuffed out and purged from the country sounds a lot like the sort of dangerous rhetoric that he was supposedly decrying, Kelly then brought far-right broadcaster Steve Deace onto the program to further discuss the dangers of left-wing rhetoric.
This was particularly absurd given that Deace himself wrote a book about the COVID-19 pandemic called "Rise of the Fourth Reich" and once openly proclaimed that he wants to see anti-fascism activists "hanging from gallows in Trump ties."
Deace nevertheless had the gall to fume that the left is driven by "political sadism" and a fetish for the physical suffering of their opponents, which is acutely ironic given that, in 2022, Deace appeared on Kelley's program where he declared that Anthony Fauci is "America's Mengele" and therefore deserving of "Nuremberg-like punishments."
"I've got a fetish, Jesse, and it's for punishment!" Deace said then. "That's the fetish I have right now. When we send the kids to grandma's for date night, the wife sends me texts about punishing the people that did this for the last 29 months to put me in the mood.":
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01/23/2025
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- Self-proclaimed "prophet" Manuel Johnson claims that God took him "ahead 12 years in the spirit" to show him that the inauguration of President Donald Trump has opened "a supernatural window for the body of Christ."
- Mark Driscoll is excited that the Trump administration will provide a host of new opportunities for "heterosexual alpha males."
- Lucas Gage explains why he fills his social media accounts with photos and videos of Adolf Hitler: "Because the Jews have demonized Hitler so much, and use him to maintain their cancel culture, he has ironically become a symbol of freedom of speech."
- Steve Deace wants to see former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator "hung by her bedazzled scarf Nuremberg-style."
- Finally, Nick Fuentes says that Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde should have been arrested for humiliating Trump during the National Prayer Service.
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- Steve Deace
that "Anthony Fauci is a malevolent force on the Earth." - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene declares that "after years of being attacked by the deranged left, most of us are so sick of their crap" and therefore "I’m still in favor of a national divorce if need be."
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07/11/24
On July 9, Oklahoma’s superintendent of public instruction Ryan Walters announced that a number of people — many of them key figures in right-wing media — would be rewriting the social studies curriculum in the state. The list includes right-wing hosts with ties to Walters like Steve Deace, Dennis Prager, and Stacy Washington, as well as Kevin Roberts, the head of The Heritage Foundation, which has organized Project 2025. (For more on the right-wing figures helping guide Oklahoma's curriculum, see here.)
Walters appeared on the July 11 episode of Jenna Ellis in the Morningand discussed the plans for a new curriculum, using rhetoric that appears to mirror Christian nationalism and expressing excitement with the group of right-wing figures that will help develop the curriculum.
Oklahoma’s top education official Ryan Walters praises right-wing media figures as among “the best minds” to develop the “best history standards in the country”
JULY 11, 2024
Audio
CitationFrom the the July 11, 2024, edition of American Family Radio's Jenna Ellis in the Morning
JENNA ELLIS (HOST): I’m speaking with Oklahoma state superintendent Ryan Walters, who is overhauling the curriculum for schools to simply reflect the truth of our national heritage, to explain civics.
...
And yet, the left, who clearly they haven't read the Bible because they think that this is just, you know, a bunch of fairy stories that have nothing to do with reality. They don’t understand that the Bible is actually a history text. It’s actually so much more than that that gives a chronology of world history up until, of course, the New Testament, but then we also have Revelation, the end of all things.
I mean, they just think of this as a purely religious text that is trying to push the Christian religion onto students rather than, as you rightly point out Ryan Walters, the Bible actually is so much more than that and should be studied if kids actually want to understand our American heritage.
…
And so talk about this curriculum more that you have proposed, and I know that people like my good friend Steve Deace are already working on this. What was the design for, you know, bringing in some of these really great — I think just civics philosophers — like Dennis Prager, Kevin Roberts, Steve Deace?
RYAN WALTERS (OKLAHOMA STATE SUPERINTENDENT): Yes. What we’ve seen in education is education has been controlled by the radical left, by these left-wing institutions. You see them all the way down. You see it at the federal level with the Department of Education, but you see it all the way down to the local level. You see it embedded in state departments of education.
Jenna, when I came into the office, I fired 130 of the staff there. And we had embedded left-wing bureaucrats. And so we’ve come in and said, listen, you know, the left has completely tried to control everything, all the way down to curriculum.
So what I want is I want folks that understand American history, understand how to articulate that in a way that kids are going to be able to understand it. And we’re going to come in here, and we’re going to have the best history standards in the country. We’re going to find the best minds from around the country to come in here and help us develop out that story of America. We want our kids to be able to truly understand it. We don’t want any of our history censored from our kids.
We want them to truly understand that because, you know, you look at it too — And when the left has taken away any type of moral, religious reference in our history, you know, you look at folks like Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, who were very clearly — you know, you think about some of John Adams quotes about, you know, this constitution was made for a moral or religious people. And part of — so much of what they articulated was an equation that, yes, our rights come from God, we maximize those individual liberties. And there’s also the citizenry has to be moral or religious so that they can self govern. That’s how maximizing individual rights work.
Well, generally, we don’t tell half of that story. We’re lying to our kids. Our kids aren’t getting that picture. And Winston Churchill said the further back you look is the further ahead you can see. And how in the world are we going to move this country forward and continue to be the greatest country in the history of the world if our kids don’t even understand the history of where we came from? And that’s where we are so excited with this group that we have to help us develop these standards.
Related
07/10/24 1:21 PM EDT
07/08/24 9:59 AM EDT
10/06/23
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HUH? immunity loss
STEVE DEACE (HOST): This is the 57 page ruling that the DC Star Chamber that's trying to put Trump in the gulag there with several of his supporters, that they put out last night doing exactly what I warned all along they were going to do, which was to overrule his appeal. They went even a couple of steps further, though, that I did not anticipate. And I -- you know, I'm only gonna cover this at the bottom of the hour because last week, you guys were sold a bill of goods by a lot of people with blue check marks that everything was free and clear on this, and we're just moving on to the election. And that's just not true.
That doesn't mean they're gonna be able to put Trump on trial, but if you read this ruling, man, they're gonna damn well try. I mean, they're gonna do everything they can possibly do to do so. And somebody needs to tell you the truth of, you know, what's actually being attempted rather than pump in the sunshine. And so, I don't care about being hated, so I've nominated myself for that gig. And I'm gonna walk you through some of the takeaways from this 57 page ruling yesterday, I'm just gonna tell you though, yesterday was not a good day on that front. It was not a good day.
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December 1, 2023, edition of BlazeTV's *The Steve Deace Show
STEVE DEACE (HOST): Well, let's go back to 9/11 and reset a research point that I pointed out on this show a few months ago. Since 9/11, we -- if you took the total amount of people that we have imported from Islamist-dominated countries, that we have -- for not even illegally, we just agreed to accept either legally or as refugees or asylum seekers, because I'm sure -- I'm sure we vetted them all, right? Right? Sure.
If you took the total population of those people from Islamist-dominated countries that we have imported, it would be the 36th most populous state in the union, the 36th most populous state. Now, let's -- let's say 99 percent of them were completely and totally vetted -- they weren't -- and we have a pretty good read on their character and caliber and qualifications -- we don't -- but let's say we do, and it's one percent - you'd be looking at a standing army in the tens of thousands. Let's say it's point one - you'd be looking at a standing army way beyond the size and scope of the 20 -- what was it, 20, 21 people pulled off 9/11, something like that?
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TODD ERZEN (CO-HOST): My goodness, the Democrats are running on jabbing you with poison, trans-ing your kids, and kill the Jews. This is actually their platform, and we still can't find --
STEVE DEACE (HOST): Don't forget bankrupt America.
ERZEN: Yeah, and that --
DEACE: Don't sell them short, Todd.
ERZEN: Lie to your face --
DEACE: And they're winning -- and they're winning --
ERZEN: Yes, that's right, and they're winning. And we don't have a better closed hand set of principles. We're as guilty as anybody else. More than ever. mma 11 23
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Since Hamas' October 7 attack on Israelis, Islamophobic rhetoric has thrived in right-wing media spaces}:
- Hamas launched its attack against Israel on October 7, with militants from the Gaza Strip targeting both civilians and Israeli military personnel. Since then, Israel has promised to eradicate Hamas, leading the Israeli military to target Gaza in an ongoing conflict that has left more than 1,400 Israelis and nearly 3,800 Palestinians dead. Al Jazeera, [10/20/23]
- Right-wing media figures fearmongered about a supposed “global day of jihad” transpiring on October 13.The notion of a “day of jihad,” in which Islamic extremists would launch Hamas-inspired attacks around the world, seemed to come in part from the mistranslation of a statement from former Hamas political leader Khaled Meshaal. Without a “specific and credible threat” to the U.S., this day failed to materialize. The rhetoric nonetheless sparked increased fears of violence during a time when anti-Muslim violence is already expected to rise. Media Matters, [10/16/23; The Guardian, 10/17/23]
- An Illinois man who “‘listens to conservative talk radio on a regular basis’ and became obsessed with the war between Hamas and Israel” allegedly stabbed his 6-year-old Palestinian tenant to death in what is being investigated as a hate crime. NBC News, [10/16/23]
- ## Radio hosts and guests fearmongered about Islamic extremists attacking the U.S.
- Charlie Kirk told people to carry a gun to defend themselves in case sleeper cells are “activated” in the U.S. The Turning Point USA founder told his audience, “This needs to be a wake up call. They are here, they mean harm to the American homeland and I pray that they are not activated. Make sure you have a gun on you.” Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/11/23]
- According to Kirk, “We have imported the dynamite right into our country.” Kirk claimed that “we have invited some of the most disgusting people on the planet into the West,” including “Third World Muslims,” and now “we shouldn’t be surprised” to see a “global day of jihad.” Media Matters, [10/16/23; Salem Media Group, The Charlie Kirk Show, 10/12/23]
- Kirk claimed that “millions of young, fighting-age Muslim men in America” have the potential to be “activated” as terrorists. Kirk said, “You have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of young, fighting-age Muslim men in America. All it takes is for a couple of them to be activated in this country.” Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/12/23]
- Kirk fearmongered about the potential of Islamic terrorists crossing the U.S.-Mexico border and “shooting up a public place in the name of Allah.” Kirk said, “What's to prevent one of these Muslims that came across the border … from getting their hands on a firearm and going and shooting up a public place in the name of Allah?” Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/10/23]
- Sean Hannity told his audience to take the “global day of jihad” seriously despite a lack of evidence. He proclaimed, “Hamas has now called for their supporters to make tomorrow, Friday the 13, a global day of jihad. Now I care about everyone in my audience. I'm gonna urge all of you: Take this seriously.” He added, “You know, it’s a holy war, and they want it worldwide.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [10/12/23]
- Hannity claimed there are terrorist cells in the U.S. that have already entered the country illegally and are planning attacks.He said, “I guarantee you that among the 8 million, by the end of this year, of illegal immigrants, I guarantee you people that have connections to terrorism have entered this country and that there are terror cells plotting, planning, and scheming another attack.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show,* [10/17/23]
- On right-wing pundit Eric Metaxas’ show, a guest spread the conspiracy theory that the Biden administration is allowing men from “Muslim countries” into America to be later used to cause chaos. Appearing on The Eric Metaxas Show, The Stream senior editor John Zmirak claimed, “They were letting in thousands of military-age men from Muslim countries and spreading them all over the country. Why? My theory, my conclusion is this is the next army of political police, of political thugs whom the Democrats will send out onto the streets to riot, to burn, to threaten, to intimidate, to pillage the next time it suits their political advantage.” Salem Media Group, *The Eric Metaxas Show*, [10/11/23]
- ## Right-wing radio hosts spread blatant Islamophobia
- Steve Deace claimed that Islam has “no compunction or reservation at all about using women and children as human shields.” “Hey, I lose a wife. I've got seven more,” Deace said, mocking Muslims. “I lose a kid, I'll make another kid with the other seven wives. And that kid, you know, was just welcomed by Allah into heaven as a hero.“ Blaze Radio, *Steve Deace Show*, [10/16/23]
- Charlie Kirk maintained that the “vast majority of Muslims” live “in the 1300s” and hold a “medieval worldview.” Kirk framed the Israel-Hamas conflict as “civilization, aka Western values, versus barbarism.” Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/11/23]
- Kirk claimed Muslims are going to kidnap people “across the world.”According to Kirk, “People are going to start getting kidnapped all across the world if we mishandle this. You’re going to see a string of kidnappings,” Kirk said. “Americans don’t travel internationally nearly as much as Europeans, but we travel internationally a lot, and there's a lot of Muslims out there.” Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/11/23]
- Kirk falsely claimed that Islamic law justifies killing children. “It's perfectly acceptable in Islamic law to go kill kids — perfectly fine,” Kirk said. Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/12/23]
- Shapiro claimed that the United Nations is “despicable and vile” and “filled with Islamist countries that support the death of Jews.” Westwood One, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [10/10/23]
- ## Right-wing radio hosts dehumanized Palestinians
- Charlie Kirk claimed Palestinians in Gaza are “savage animals.” The TPUSA founder and Salem Media Group radio host stated, “To be clear, they will — they'll take you out of the car and cut your head off and parade you through the streets. They're really nice people we got dealing with here. And I'll never forget — as soon as they see an Israeli license plate, they're savage animals, they’ll come after you.” Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/11/23]
- Mark Levin declared, “The Israelis are up against these animals — they’re not even animals,” before calling Palestinians “subhumans.” On his Westwood One radio show, Levin also questioned why the safety of Palestinian civilians should be considered, “particularly when the enemy wants its own civilians killed.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/13/23]
- Levin: “And I'm supposed to, what, shed crocodile tears, for what's going to happen to these people?”Levin also called people in Gaza “barbarians” and said that their deaths are not Israel’s responsibility. Levin continued, “I'm not. Maybe I'm the only one who will voice it, but I'm not. Israel has every right to throw every damn thing it has at barbarians. And if there are innocent people, quote-unquote ‘civilians’ who are killed, then maybe they ought to organize to take out the government they elected, but it's not Israel's responsibility." Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/10/23]
- Levin implied that all Palestinians are evil and said that if “there's collateral damage” when Israel attacks Gaza, “so be it.” According to Levin, “One side is immoral and evil. The other side is moral and good. It's that Blaze Radio, *The Steve Deace Show*, [10/13/23simple.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/17/23]
- Steve Deace claimed that Palestinians are “basically Arab squatters, people who were kicked out of countries like Jordan, who didn't want them.” The Blaze Radio host said, “There’s no such thing as a Palestinian. It’s a people group that does not exist. They’re basically Arab squatters, people who were kicked out of countries like Jordan, who didn’t want them.” ]
- Blaze Radio producer Aaron McIntire claimed that Palestinian civilians “don’t exist” and also called them “squatters.”McIntire said, “What you do with the Palestinian civilians — that don’t exist — what you do with the people, the squatters, who live in the area known as Gaza Strip: Make Egypt take them, make the Arab nations, Arab neighbors take them.” Blaze Radio, *The Steve Deace Show*, [10/13/23]
- Deace also said, “There is no such thing as a Palestinian people as a people group.”He stated, “The people identifying as Palestinians — and they're not all Muslims, they're not all, you know, Hamas crazies, and every one of them's made in the image of God. Nevertheless, there is no such thing as a Palestinian people as a people group. These are folks from other Arab countries, a lot of them, a legacy like in Jordan that were kicked out of those countries, and there's a reason why these Arab countries like Jordan and Egypt are closing their borders to them now. They don't want them back.” Blaze Radio, *Steve Deace Show*,[10/16/23]
- Charlie Kirk claimed Palestinians are all antisemitic to justify attacking them: “The reality is Hamas and the Arab world, they just hate Jews. They just want Jews dead.” Salem Media Group, T*he Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/12/23]
- ## Right-wing radio figures tried to justify withholding aid to Palestinians
- Sean Hannity said any humanitarian aid to Palestine will help Hamas. Hannity stated, “Any humanitarian aid you want to give the innocent people in Gaza — I don't know what the percentage is because I don't know how deep their indoctrination is — will not go to the civilians. Innocents won't see this aid. It will go to Hamas, and they will build out their terror network.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [10/18/23]
- Ben Shapiro said “turning off water and electricity in military areas is normal” and emphasized that Israel is trying to avoid targeting civilians. Westwood One, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [10/16/23]
- Shapiro claimed that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, a humanitarian organization, allows for “Jew hatred” and should not be supported. According to Shapiro, “The UNRWA, the U.N. refugees administration, which is an agency that is specifically dedicated only to the Palestinians, it’s amazing. It’s a garbage administration run internationally that allows for full indoctrination in Jew hatred at UNRWA schools and the hiding of weaponry beneath UNRWA schools. They admitted yesterday on Twitter, briefly, that Hamas was literally stealing aid and then they deleted it because they’re afraid that Hamas might get mad at them.” Westwood One, T*he Ben Shapiro Show*, [10/17/23]
- On The Mark Levin Show, the president of the Zionist Organization of America declared: “The civilians are not innocent.”ZOA National President Mort Klein said that the U.S. should withhold aid because Palestinian civilians were also guilty for Hamas’ October 7 attack, saying, “In any war, do you do something against the civilians there? Do we do anything for the Vietnam civilians? For the Iraqi civilians? For the German civilians? No. It is a war. And yet strangely enough when it's Israel fighting Hamas Nazis, we want to aid the civilians. And I must add, the civilians are not innocent.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/18/23]
- ## Right-wing radio figures defended or downplayed civilian casualties in Gaza
- Mark Levin complained that asking Israel not to bomb schools or cut off food and medication to Gazan civilians constitutes too many “conditions.”Levin said: “Urban battle: It’s going to be very hard. Of course it is, but the Israelis are being told by our government, ‘Make sure your feed the population, make sure you medicate the population, make sure you don’t hit a mosque, a hospital, a school, don’t hit any of those. Now go for it.’ Look at all these conditions. All these conditions.” Westwood One, *The Mark Levin Show*, [10/16/23]
- Brian Kilmeade suggested civilians should not be let out of Gaza because terrorists might escape. According to the Fox News and radio host, “Word is — there’s some word that we are pressuring — the U.S. is pressuring Israel to hold off on the invasion so that more civilians get out. But you know who else gets out? The terrorists! Who are going to plot and plan another day and be treated like heroes when the red carpet comes out with a lot of these evil regimes or the Muslim Brotherhood affiliates around the world around the globe. “ Fox News Radio, *The Brian Kilmeade Show*, [10/16/23]
- Shapiro excused civilian casualties as necessary to achieve Israeli military objectives, saying, “This notion, that it is incumbent on Israel not to achieve its military objectives in order to prevent civilian casualties caused by Hamas, is absurd on its face.” Westwood One, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [10/17/23]
- Shapiro also said that Palestinian civilians should not be prioritized over “the first rule of war: winning.” According to Shapiro, “Yes, of course, those of moral bent ought to work to minimize civilian casualties. Yes, of course, those of moral bent ought to work to find a place for civilians to escape from the line of fire. But neither of those rules can be prioritized over the first rule of war: winning. War is ugly by nature. Nearly the ugliest thing. As it turns out, there’s only one thing uglier: losing to those who don’t care about morality or decency at all.” Westwood One, *The Ben Shapiro Show*, [10/16/23]
- Sean Hannity claimed Hamas and Iran, not Israel, are to blame for civilian deaths in Gaza. According to the Fox News and radio host, “The people of Palestine — those that have been killed and will be killed — you can only blame one group, and that would be the terrorist group Hamas. Well, you can blame another group too — the No. 1 state sponsor of terror that helped, apparently, organize, foment these attacks against Israel. That would be Iran.” Premiere Radio Networks, *The Sean Hannity Show*, [10/16/23]
- Kilmeade said it’s “not Israel’s problem” that civilians are collateral damage in eradicating Hamas.According to Kilmeade, “They say go by the rules of war, and — the best you can — but if Hamas is going to use these people as human shields, prevent them from leaving, or going south, or leaving their building — even though it’s gonna be targeted — that’s not Israel’s problem, it’s their problem.” Fox News Radio, *The Brian Kilmeade Show*, [10/16/23]
- Beck claimed there are “no Israeli war crimes” and said that “every innocent harmed in Gaza is on Hamas.” Beck dismissed the number of casualties caused by Israel, arguing, “Every piece of human suffering in Gaza is on Hamas. Want more peace? Have less Hamas.” Blaze Radio, *The Glenn Beck Program*, [10/17/23]
- ## Right-wing radio figures tried to justify the complete elimination of Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip
- Blaze Radio founder Glenn Beck said Israel should make Gaza into a “parking lot,” claiming the over 2 million Palestinians who live there are simply the tools of “people who just want to kill Jews.”Beck stated, “I think Israel should park their car there. You know what I mean? Park a lot of cars there. It could be, you know, some sort of a parking lot that they make it. … The Palestinian people have been used over and over again by people who just want to kill Jews. That's it. That's — that's been the thing from the very beginning." Blaze Radio, *The Glenn Beck Program*, [10/16/23]
- Salem radio guest: “I’m OK” with an ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.During an appearance on Salem Media’s The Charlie Kirk Show, Breitbart writer Joel Pollak stated, “I don’t think it’s going to be something people consider, but it's there. It's a possibility, and frankly I'm OK with it. I say that at the risk of being accused of all kinds of stuff, but, you know, if it comes down to ethnic cleansing, if you want to cleanse my people, I'll cleanse yours first. I mean, that’s where we are.” Salem Media Group, *The Charlie Kirk Show*, [10/9/23]
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Satan created a “woke mind virus.”
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-figures-prepare-spiritual-war-2024-claiming-their-opponents-are-demonic
no lnx many vid
right-wing media figures prepare for “spiritual war” in 2024 by claiming their opponents are demonic entities
Figures have invoked “demonic portals” and the occult to dehumanize LGBTQ people, perceived political enemies, and others
WRITTEN BY PAYTON ARMSTRONG & NOAH DOWE
PUBLISHED 07/05/23
Right-wing media figures are ramping up apocalyptic political rhetoric that literally demonizes LGBTQ people, perceived political enemies, and progressive causes, with some absurdly suggesting that demons are using portals to enter Earth and wage “spiritual war” against humanity.
Rhetoric about “demonic” influence and an existential, “spiritual” war has become a hallmark of right-wing punditry and Republican politics ahead of the 2024 elections, as Christian nationalism grows in popularity among Republican voters.Language that demonizes and dehumanizes political opponents has been a staple of right-wing commentary for years, but these recent accusations are not simple rhetorical flourishes; a number of media figures have begun to warn their audiences about occult rituals from the left and supposed portals to hell from which demons would enter the Earth. Last year, Trump ally and provocateur Roger Stone even claimed that a “Satanic portal” had opened over the White House after President Joe Biden took office.
This sort of framing, which posits that political enemies are literal “demons” waging a “spiritual war,” stems largely from a right-wing Christian movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation. For years, the NAR movement has reportedly sought “to take dominion over politics, business and culture in preparation for the end times and the return of Jesus.” Rolling Stone described the core NAR belief in spiritual war in a profile of one of the movement’s leading figures, commentator and self-proclaimed prophet Lance Wallnau:
NAR followers like Wallnau believe that America is specially anointed by God to project Christianity across the globe. And the NAR movement’s followers view foes of their quest as satanic. This is not metaphorical. They hold that the physical world is enveloped by a supernatural dimension, featuring warring angels and demons, and are convinced that demons afflict their enemies on behalf of the devil. The movement holds that these spiritual battles are reflected in earthly politics. As the late NAR founder C. Peter Wagner explained in a striking NPR interview in 2011: “I believe there’s a lot of demonic control over Congress … that needs to be dispersed.”
Fiery rhetoric of a spiritual war coupled with demonization of opponents has created an atmosphere in which violence appears permissible and justifiable to followers. For instance, the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was largely undergirded and inspired by boisterous cries of spiritual warfare from prominent figures on the religious right — including Wallnau — who have conditioned their audiences to consider political violence a legitimate tactic.
Over the last two years, right-wing media figures have increasingly adopted the scorched-earth rhetoric of movements like the NAR, setting the stage for a potentially dangerous political atmosphere in 2024. Here are a number of examples:
Right-wing media figures have suggested that demons are entering Earth, with some claiming they are using actual “portals” to hell
On several occasions, prominent right-wing media figures have claimed that demons are using “portals” to attack conservative causes or even fearmongered that Satan created a “woke mind virus.”
Right-wing media gadfly Roger Stone — who observers have noted has increasingly adopted rhetoric around “spiritual war” — claimed on Eric Metaxas’ Salem radio show that “a demonic portal” had been visible above the White House since Biden’s inauguration. Stone suggested that through the “portal,”demons began to “populate the Biden administration,” arguing “you can’t tell whether they are men or women.”
Video
Citation From a December 11, 2022, video posted to Eric Metaxas' Rumble page:
Salem media host Charlie Kirk said that “we’re in the midst of the most consequential spiritual war” in millennia because “there is no other way to explain the campaign of arson and destruction against our country other than diabolical, spiritually dark influences that are fighting for dominion over this nation.” He also argued that “witchcraft and the occult is a real thing, and there are portals to darkness and you have to be vigilant about this.” Kirk also alleged that Satan had created “the woke mind virus” to destroy America and called on religious leaders to “excommunicate … the demons of the woke.”
Video an episode of Real Life with Jack Hibbs, aired on Fox Business Network on May 6, 2023
Conspiracy theorist and Infowars host Alex Jones warned that the European Council for Nuclear Research had used the Large Hadron Collider for “satanic rituals” which he claimed “definitely has opened up a gate” to hell and let demons into the Earth “like paratroopers.” Jones has also claimed that an “alien offworld force” with demons as its agents is “working against us around the clock because they know we are about to go from our embryonic level to birthing into the next level.” What’s more, in his trial for defamation of the families of the Sandy Hook massacre, Jones attacked the judge and plaintiffs’ lawyers as “committed to occult ideology of the new world order” and implied they were “demonically possessed.”
Video
CitationFrom the April 11, 2022, edition of Infowars' The Alex Jones Show
Daily Wire host Michael Knowles said of reports of interactions with aliens: “Aliens are just demons for liberals who don't want to admit metaphysical reality."
Right-wing media figures have labeled LGBTQ people, gender-affirming care, and abortion “demonic”
Conservative media figures have also revved up their attacks on trans people, LGBTQ Pride month, and abortion by claiming they are inspired by “demons in our society.”
Knowles — who demanded this year that so-called “transgenderism” be “eradicated from public life entirely” — claimed that trans people are “demonic” and that demons are “always trans.”
Video
CitationFrom the March 14, 2023, edition of The Daily Wire's The Michael Knowles Show
On her prime-time Fox News show, Laura Ingraham referred to gender-affirming care as “a demonic campaign to destroy the natural biological order.”
Daily Wire host Candace Owens called trans people “demons in our society” and smeared “any actor, actress, individual that supports this” as “demonic.” Owens has also argued that surrogacy is “deeply demonic.”
Video
CitationFrom the February 7, 2023, edition of The Daily Wire's Candace Owens
On Fox, now-former host Tucker Carlson used the Covenant School shooting in Tennessee to falsely claim that “the trans movement is targeting Christians, including with violence,” and denounced the trans community as part of “a deranged and demonic ideology.”
On YouTube, BlazeTV’s Liz Wheeler said that “if you took the three most disgusting, demonic ideologies that you could possibly think of and put them all in one flag you would get the trans flag.”
Doomsday prophet and repeat Trinity Broadcast Network guest Jonathan Cahn recently declared that Biden had put the United States under “demonic possession” at the hands of an ancient goddess of “sexual immorality” by lighting up the White House in the colors of the rainbow for LGBTQ Pride.
Two days after a shooter killed five people in a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club,Infowars host Owen Shroyer ran footage of drag queens and questioned whether “these people are even human,” ranting: “Demon possession is real. Satanic agendas are real. I don’t know how else to describe any of this.”
Video
CitationFrom the November 22, 2022, edition of Infowars' The Alex Jones Show
BlazeTV host Steve Deace partnered with far-right Christian filmmakers Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon to produce a right-wing movie that argued humanity is engaged in a spiritual war against demonic forces such as abortion and LGBTQ equality. On his podcast, in an episode titled “Hot Take: Demonic or Democrats?” Deace said that people who advertise drag story hours are “literally inhabited by a demon” and are “a manifestation of a demonic presence.”
Salem Radio host Eric Metaxas and his guest John Zmirak proclaimed that Satan himself was behind the LGBTQ rights movement, with Zmirak decrying “blasphemous drag queen rituals, in your church, mocking Christ” and comparing the Pride flag to an inverted pentagram, claiming Satan “wants you to use the pronoun they.” Metaxas then warned his audience that if they did not boycott companies that celebrate Pride Month, they would be comparable to Germans who failed to stop the Holocaust, saying, “The death camps were the result of good people saying, ‘I don’t want to deal with this. Just let me live my life.’”
Christian nationalist pastor Jack Hibbs, whose sermons air on Fox Business Network, declared that transgender people are “satanic,” saying that in “the last days there’s going to be doctrines of demons and deceiving spirits. Wonder what that’s going to be like? You’re in it.” Per Right Wing Watch, Hibbs has also claimed that "demonism” has caused public support for trans rights.
Christian nationalist influencer and repeat Fox guest Sean Feucht has described abortion and the movement for trans rights as demonic, ascribing public support to “demons” and “the demonic spirit.” Feucht is closely associated with prominent NAR movement leaders and “apostles.”
Right-wing radio host Jesse Kelly said that “we have a society so full of demons that baby murder is now popular” and also referred to the LGBTQ community as “the LGTBQ demon mob.”
Lance Wallnau, a contributor for The Victory Channel’s Christian nationalist show FlashPoint, has repeatedly invoked demons while discussing LGBTQ people. In an April show, Wallnau said that transgender people represent “a fundamental deception” and that accepting them has made society “sympathetic with evil.” Wallnau said that demons target people to make them trans, saying, “I believe a demon comes along that enters into that confusion that affirms that they are the opposite gender.” Per Right Wing Watch, Wallnau also claimed that people become trans because "Satan has taken 'em over with crazy talk about them being in the wrong bodies.”
Video
CitationFrom the April 13, 2023, edition of The Victory Channel's Flashpoint
Right-wing media personalities have also warned that Democrats and other perceived enemies are “demonic” and “satanic”
Far-right Christian media figures and prominent right-wing commentators have told their audiences that the left is engaged with “satanic worship” and “demonic forces,” rationalizing ideological opposition as a product of the “demon-possessed.”
Fox prime-time host Jesse Watters claimed that viewers should be afraid of “demonic teachers” interested in “turning their classroom into a drag show.”
Carlson warned on Glenn Beck’s show that there are “spiritual forces surrounding” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), calling him “a force of darkness.”
On a FlashPoint broadcast, contributor and pastor Hank Kunneman told viewers that “we don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but principalities, powers, spiritual wickedness in high places — you know, demonic entities.” Earlier in the episode, Wallnau said that tragedies in society such as mass shootings should be understood through a lens where “you don’t deal with current events, you deal with a demonic spin cycle.”
BlazeTV founder and longtime conspiracy theorist Glenn Beckproclaimed that the 2020 election was not contested against Democrats, but against “Satan himself,” which he claimed was prophesied to him in a dream. Beck has an extensive history of linking progressives to “the devil” and warning of “demonic” influence.
Disgraced Trump ally-turned-podcast-host Steve Bannon suggested that Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) is “satanic” because he “exudes … pure evil” and “hangs with Satanic Groomers.”
During his Christian nationalist ReAwaken America Tour, former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn has frequently asserted that there is a “spiritual war” in America. He has also called former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) a “demon.”
Right-wing podcast host Benny Johnson attacked the grand jury forewoman investigating Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference in Georgia, calling her “borderline demonic” and “demon-possessed.” He has also claimed that “you can see demonic forces at work" in Schiff's district, claiming that the congressman is “on the side of the demons.” Johnson has previously embraced the rhetoric of spiritual warfare, saying, “This rabbit hole goes down so far into the occult … This is a spiritual battle. This is a battle of possession, and there are stages of demonic possession, and we are in the oppression stage right now.”
Far-right pundit Stew Peters fearmongered about “SatanCon,” an event that is hosted by “a progressive church that doesn't worship the devil but instead uses the word to get attention,” claiming it was evidence of “full-blown satanic worship” in America. His guest, Sean Feucht, insisted that we are witnessing “the total unveiling of this demonic realm, this demonic spirit.” Feucht then warned that these alleged forces of Satan were “agitated and upset and trying everything they can do to intimidate Christians.”
On his BlazeTV podcast, Deace called the Democratic Party “a demonic construct, a satanically influenced entity, and a death cult.”
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https://www.mediamatters.org/blazetv/blazetv-steve-deace-asks-if-transgender-madness-really-just-psyop-grease-skids-michelle
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https://www.mediamatters.org/blazetv/blazetv-host-steve-deace-blasts-ric-grenell-trumps-homosexual-enforcer-who-wants-other
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https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-deace/nefarious-steve-deaces-self-proclaimed-christo-fascist-propaganda-horror-movie-has-been
mma 6 23
right-wing media have promoted the Christian film Nefarious as one of the latest battlegrounds in so-called “spiritual warfare.” Through strategically cut trailers, influencer promotion, and a Coachella event, the film's creators have worked to “subversively” market it as a generic thriller to a mainstream audience in the hopes that it would “show them the light.”
The movie Nefarious is a prequel to A Nefarious Plot, a book by right-wing commentator and BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who partnered with directors Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon — the duo behind other right-wing faith-based movies such as Unplanned and God’s Not Dead1 and 2. Deace has an extensive history of using virulently anti-LGBTQ, misogynistic, anti-abortion, and other bigoted rhetoric such as saying lessons for kids about Pride Month are “right out of the pit of hell.” He claimed that he and his company “invested millions of dollars that [he] frankly didn’t have to make this movie” because “storytelling” is the “last place left where real persuasion can occur.”
Though marketed to a mainstream audience as a standard horror movie, Nefarious serves as a “Christian allegory, and it is conveyed with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer,” as the Washington Examiner put it:{, with the two main characters — an atheist psychiatrist and a death-row inmate who claims to be possessed by a demon — debating the existence of the devil and God. The movie also suggests humanity is engaged in a spiritual war against demonic forces, with the demon }
:{ progressive political and social stances that have }:taken root:{ in American society, like }:abortion rights:{ and LGBTQ equality. }:
The movie’s theme is captured in a scene featuring bigoted conspiracy theorist and BlazeTV founder Glenn Beck, playing himself. Beck asks the psychiatrist, “What happens to an atheist that is confronted by demonic evil?” Later the psychiatrist notes, “There’s a great battle going on, whether we realize it or not — a battle between good and evil — and we’re all participants, willing or not.”
The film’s promotion of a right-wing Christian worldview on viewers is clear: On his BlazeTV podcast, Deace agreed with an online reviewer who described it as “Christo-facist propaganda.” Yet Deace, Solomon, and Konzelman repeatedly admitted that Nefarious was marketed as a standard horror film to reach viewers who might not choose to see a faith-based movie. The film started streaming on June 2 and it has been playing in hundreds of theaters nationwide for at least seven weeks, grossing over $5 million.
Nefarious’ creators marketed it as a standard horror film to attract “nonbelievers”
In April, Deace boasted to right-wing groupThe Family Leaderthat the film’s trailer was crafted “subversively” to portray Nefarious as a horror movie and hide from potential moviegoers that it was faith-based and contained right-wing ideological themes. Apparently, the trailer played ahead of the nonfaith-based movie Cocaine Bear in at least some theaters. In the same interview, Deace went on to call the Motion Picture Association “demonic” for the R rating that Nefarious received, claiming that it was given this rating only because the group was afraid “unbelieving” kids “would be impacted by it.”
Deace, as well as directors Solomon and Konzelman, repeatedly admitted to trying to attract a mainstream audience.
- In April, Deace described the movie’s marketing campaign as “tricking” the audience into thinking it was a horror movie rather than faith-based, saying: “Now that we're done tricking — I'm sorry, ‘marketing’ it as a horror film to the Ninevites — we're just gonna flat out now be honest about the movie now that it's in theaters. It's a faith-based film. It was always intended to be a faith-based film. We just packaged it in a way to bring people in that are being attracted to darkness to then get them in the theaters so that we can then show them the light.” (Ninevites descend from Nineveh, which is famous for its depiction in the Bible as a sinful city.)
- vid?]
- discussing online reviews of the movie during his podcast, Deace agreed with a reviewer who described the film as “Christo-fascist propaganda,” saying: “Even most of the critical reviews from users were like, well, it's actually very well-acted and well-made. I just hated the world view. It's Christo-fascist propaganda. OK, which is true, but I digress.”
- In an interview with a right-wing Catholic site, Konzelman described the movie’s poster as a “Trojan horse”: “Don’t be afraid of the poster — [it] looks pretty intimidating. The poster is a Trojan horse designed to lure the mainstream horror audience into the film, nonbelievers.”
- In the same interview, Konzelman said: “This is the movie for your family member who has fallen away from the faith, or your friend who has never been a believer. You can take them to this film, and under the guise of entertainment, they’re going to be confronted with the greater questions.”
- On his podcast, Deace and his producer, Aaron McIntire, mocked online reviewers, whom they described as being “lured” into the movie by the “effective marketing” and failing to “do their homework about what this movie was.” They also mocked a reviewer who said she “went to see Nefarious completely blindly thinking it was just a scary movie.” McIntire said to Deace of similar reviews from unsuspecting viewers: “Seeing those reactions, you accomplished something.”
The movie was seemingly also promoted through an influencer campaign — a growing tactic within the right-wing ecosystem that can create a false impression of organic public support.
[pix twt]
at least two dozen influencer and meme accounts, including accounts affiliated with right-wing influencer group Today is America, across Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok promoted Nefarious, particularly in late April after it received a 33% review on Rotten Tomatoes. The content of the various posts was very similar, if not exactly the same, generally using the hashtag #WokenTomatoes, and encouraging followers to see the movie.
It also appears that there was a red carpet event in Palm Springs, California, for the film prior to the Coachella music festival, seemingly hosted by actor Paul Butcher and attended by celebrities including Victoria Justice. Like much of the film’s official marketing, the event seems to have presented Nefarious primarily as a paranormal thriller, not a faith-based movie. From photos shared of the event — which was attended by mainstream social media influencers with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers — it appears that guests were entertained with a tattoo booth and a vodka company was a sponsor.
[twt]
right-wing media figures are promoting Nefarious using rhetoric from the religious right that warns of an ongoing“spiritual war”
The larger political context surrounding the release of Nefarious is growing Christian nationalism and apocalyptic political rhetoric on the right, which frames the country as engaged in existential “spiritual warfare” against satanic forces.
Some right-wing media figures are also labeling trans people and abortion as “demonic,” and Konzelman and Soloman made similar claims in various interviews while promoting Nefarious. In one, they cited the existence of trans people as evidence of satanic influence: “There will come a time when good is considered bad, and bad is considered good, when women will be as men, when all these things that are happening in our world today. … You can see the devil’s machinations.”
Numerous right-wing media figures — and even members of Congress — have endorsed or promoted Nefarious, including Glenn Beck, right-wing influencer and neo-Nazi collaborator Jack Posobiec, BlazeTV host
The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh, Salem Radio host
, conspiracy theorist Dinesh D’Souza, right-wing podcast host Elijah Schaffer, former Trump administration official Ben Carson, former Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield, and disgraced former Trump attorney Sidney Powell
[vid]?
several right-wing and Christian media outlets also covered the movie’s message positively, including Fox News, Church Militant, Breitbart, The Christian Post, Western Journal, Christian Broadcasting Network, The Federalist, and The Daily Wire.
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https://www.mediamatters.org/steve-deace/youtube-steve-deace-calls-mass-arrests-ahead-philadelphia-pride-events
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April 14, 2023
- Will Sommer and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Campaign in Chaos: Kanye West Just Wants to Be ‘Left Alone.’
- Colby Hall @ Mediaite: DeSantis Signs Bill Banning Abortions After 6 Weeks During Late Night Closed Door Ceremony.
- Prem Thakker @ The New Republic: GOP Candidates Put Guns Over Lives, Pledging to the NRA After Mass Shootings.
- Alex Bollinger @ LGBTQ Nation: GOP lawmaker who advocated 12-year-olds getting married blames backlash on Democrats.
- Media Matters: BlazeTV host Steve Deace calls Vice President Kamala Harris “one of Montel Williams’ hoes.”
AARON MCINTIRE (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER): Dadmar_1 says Gavin Newsom will enter the 2024 campaign with lots of fanfare but will ultimately fizzle like Jeb, exclamation point, because he is just, well, look at California.
STEVE DEACE (HOST): Sell. If he enters, it's because they've already plotted to move along and move -- it's because he's been anointed to replace Biden. That's the only reason he would get it.
MCINTIRE: And the other reason, if he does fizzle, is not because of look at California. It's because, hey, look at this straight white male.
DEACE: Yeah. If he gets in, it's because this is the superdelegates' choice. They have decided that Joe cannot run again, andthat even being a Black woman, they just can't sell one of Montel Williams' hoes to the country.
Tags: Kanye West Mike Moon Ron DeSantis Steve Deace Round-Up NRA
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ALL POSTS ABOUT STEVE DEACE
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Right Wing Bonus Tracks: Grifter Central
Right Wing Bonus Tracks: The Hidden ‘T’
Right Wing Bonus Tracks: They’re Teabagging Your Children
Right Wing Bonus Tracks: A Fetish for Punishment
Right Wing Round-Up: Only the Mob Takes the Fifth
Steve Deace Fumes That Leftists Are Forcing Conservatives to ‘Take the Law Into Their Own Hands’
Steve Deace Wants to See Trump ‘Hang Some Antifa Members’
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