😡 "Brogarchy" Breakdown: DeSimone's Meltdown Over Grijalva's Term Reveals Deep Misunderstanding of Structural Inequality
Radio host's attempt to flip the script exposes inability to engage with systemic critiques
This is based on Wake Up Live with Chris DeSimone, a maga-conservative podcast in Southern Arizona, which was broadcast by Live The Dream Media on 3/24/25.
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
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🎙️ A radio show in Tucson called "Wake Up with Christopher DeSimone" had different guests talking about big topics like immigration 🌍, minimum wage 💰, and schools 🏫. The host and his guests often said that Republican ideas would fix problems, but they didn't always explain the whole story. For example, they talked about border control 🚧 without mentioning why people might be moving here, discussed how raising wages might affect jobs 📉 without talking about how it helps workers afford food and housing 🍽️🏠, and complained about schools without mentioning that Arizona spends less money on students than most other states 💸. The good news is that people in Tucson are working together in many different ways 🤝 to solve problems in our community, even when they disagree about politics 🗳️.
🗝️ Takeaways
🗣️ Republican CD7 candidate Daniel Butietta attempts to court Hispanic voters while supporting deportation policies, highlighting the contradiction in conservative immigration politics
📈 NAU Professor Nancy Baca's study on Flagstaff's minimum wage was presented as definitive proof of negative consequences, despite methodological limitations and the study's own acknowledgment of benefits to workers
🤔 DeSimone's reaction to the term "brogarchy" revealed how conservative media often personalizes and deflects from structural critiques rather than engaging with systemic issues
📉 The hosts' celebration of dismantling the Department of Education ignored how public education has been systematically underfunded in Arizona, which ranks near the bottom nationally in per-pupil spending
🌐 Brother Joe's enthusiastic endorsement of Trump's tariff policies failed to acknowledge potential negative consequences for consumers and global supply chains
🤝 Despite divisive political rhetoric, Tucson continues to build community-centered solutions through grassroots organizing, mutual aid networks, and collaborative local initiatives
Behind the Mic: DeSimone's "Wake Up" Show Dishes Conservative Dreams While Reality Screams
The morning air in Tucson was already warming up as Christopher DeSimone's "Wake Up" show on the Live the Dream Media Network took to the airwaves Monday morning, serving up a hearty portion of conservative grievance casserole topped with a generous sprinkling of selective outrage. As someone who's spent years tuning in to local political discourse, I found myself both fascinated and frustrated by the show's ability to create an alternate reality where progressive policies are always failing and conservative solutions are always just around the corner—if only those pesky Democrats would get out of the way.
If wishful thinking could fix potholes, DeSimone's show would have Tucson's streets smoother than a billionaire's marble countertop.
Let's travel together through Monday's episode, unpacking what was said, what was conveniently left unsaid, and what it all means for our desert community struggling with real problems that deserve more than talk-radio simplifications.
Rally Ruckus: DeSimone's Diatribe Against Bernie, AOC, and Adelita's "Brogarchy" Bombshell
Perhaps nothing triggered DeSimone's conservative convulsions quite like the recent Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rally held at Catalina High School. The event drew a substantial crowd of progressive supporters and became a lightning rod for DeSimone's particular brand of selective outrage.
First came the crowd-size conspiracy theories: "No way in hell could was there 23,000 people there," DeSimone declared, seemingly channeling a certain former president's inauguration obsessions. He even suggested the counting might have been done by "Louis Farrakhan, the progenitor of the Million Man March that did not have a million people at it."
Because nothing says "I have substantive critiques" like disputing attendance figures instead of addressing policy ideas.
DeSimone then pivoted to public safety concerns, questioning whether the event had proper permits: "Remember, this is the city that complains about political people like Donald Trump having a rally, and we're not sure if we could do this, and you better pay us. Here's your bill. So, I'd like to know what the bill was for the AOC."
He cited a report claiming only eight police officers were assigned to the event: "Eight cops for 10,000 people. Well, I'm sure Regina had her three cop bodyguards with her."
But what really sent DeSimone into rhetorical overdrive was Adelita Grijalva's appearance at the rally. He took particular issue with her participation while still in mourning for her father, former Congressman Raúl Grijalva.
"Adelita Grijava was in deep mourning over her father. She said, 'I'm not going to announce, I'm not going to get political. I'm not going to talk about my decision to run in CD-7 until after we're finished burying my dad and mourning.' But she saw the opportunity because she's going to be in a contested primary with Daniel Hernandez, Adrian Fontes, and other characters that she basically had to get out there."
The real trigger point, however, was Grijalva's use of the term "brogarchy" – a play on "oligarchy" that highlights male-dominated power structures. This single word launched DeSimone into a sprawling, multi-segment rant attempting to flip the accusation back onto Grijalva and other Democratic officials.
"I will tell you all that I got right off the bat. Five ways that Adelita Grijalva has been part of the brogarchy. And that's why it's even funnier and more hypocritical that, that pathetic woman said that."
DeSimone proceeded to list various controversies involving Democratic officials, including a settlement involving Raúl Grijalva: "Adelita's daddy paid a former staffer $50,000" after allegations of creating a hostile work environment, claiming that "the cash came out of Grijalva's House natural resources committee budget funded by US taxpayers."
In his attempt to turn the "brogarchy" criticism back on Democrats, DeSimone repeatedly asked: "Is this brogarchy or not brogarchy?" after citing each controversy, completely missing the structural critique embedded in the term.
Nothing demonstrates understanding of systemic power analysis quite like a white man yelling at brown women like AOC or Adelita Grijalva saying "No, YOU'RE the brogarchy!" like we're in a political playground spat.
Meanwhile, DeSimone did find one point of agreement with Bernie Sanders, noting that in a separate interview, Sanders acknowledged that "illegal immigration, just having an open border is inappropriate," which DeSimone called "a little bit of intellectual honesty."
What DeSimone's reaction to the rally reveals is a fundamental inability to engage with the substantive policy discussions that drove people to attend. Instead of addressing Sanders' and AOC's critiques of economic inequality, healthcare access, or climate policy, DeSimone fixated on crowd sizes, permit paperwork, and personal attacks.
This pattern of deflection – focusing on logistical details and individual personalities rather than policy substance – is a common tactic when conservative media figures cannot or will not engage with the actual ideas being presented by progressive leaders.
It's much easier to dispute crowd counts than to explain why corporate tax cuts benefit working Tucsonans, much simpler to attack Grijalva personally than to address the systemic inequities she was highlighting.
As Tucsonans navigate our complex local challenges, we deserve better than personality-driven distractions from the substantive policy discussions that could actually improve lives in our desert community.
Congressional Hopeful Daniel Butierrez: Courting the Hispanic Vote While Pushing Border Barriers
DeSimone's first guest, Daniel Butierrez, is running as a Republican in Congressional District 7, a district with a whopping +39 Democratic advantage. With a district that includes almost the entire southern border from Yuma to Douglas, Butierrez faces the unenviable task of selling Republican policies to a primarily Democratic, heavily Hispanic constituency.
Butierrez's strategy? Claim that Hispanic voters are secretly aligned with Republican values but have been ignored by the party.
"Most Hispanics are conservative," Butierrez insisted. "They just are. Most of the older Hispanics are Kennedy Democrats. And they know that. So I've been reaching out to them, reaching out to their community. And when I go over and speak to the Hispanics, I don't talk about Democrat or Republican, I actually look at them and say, 'Listen, you and I are both conservative. We believe in God, family, and country.' And they agree with that."
Right, because nothing says "I respect your community" like assuming all Hispanic voters think alike and need a Republican to tell them what they really believe.
When pressed on immigration policy in a district containing 90% of Arizona's border with Mexico, Butierrez offered a contradictory stance that attempted to sound reasonable while adhering to hardline Republican positions.
"I believe that we need to deal with the immigration. That's a big issue with my district," Butierrez acknowledged, before adding, "All those that just came in illegally all need to be removed."
Yet moments later, he expressed sympathy for undocumented immigrants who have established businesses and families in the U.S.: "A lot of the Hispanics believe that their big concern are some of their family members that are here that have started businesses."
When DeSimone described himself as a "big wall, big gate guy," Butierrez readily agreed while citing personal experience with the broken immigration system, noting that he once sponsored a friend from Mexico who, 17 years later, still hasn't been able to navigate the process.
So the system is broken enough that his own friend couldn't get in legally after 17 years, but we should still deport everyone who found another way in? Make it make sense.
What Butierrez's appearance revealed is the impossible tightrope Republicans must walk on immigration: acknowledge the system is broken while refusing to support genuine reform that addresses the root causes of migration, offer sympathy to established immigrant communities while advocating policies that would tear those communities apart, and proclaim respect for Hispanic culture while supporting leadership that has consistently demonized Latino immigrants.
As Butierrez tries to make inroads in CD7, he'll need more than cultural connections to overcome the fundamental contradiction in his message: "We respect your community, but we want to deport your neighbors."
The Economics of Minimum Wage: Professor Nancy Baca's Study Gets the DeSimone Treatment
The show's second guest, Professor Nancy Baca from Northern Arizona University, discussed a study on Flagstaff's minimum wage ordinance that deserved a nuanced conversation. Instead, it became an opportunity for DeSimone to reinforce his pre-existing beliefs about minimum wage increases being universally harmful.
Professor Baca, director of the Economic Policy Institute at NAU, explained that Coconino County had commissioned a study to examine the effects of Flagstaff's minimum wage increase, which voters approved in 2017.
"This was a voter decision," Baca emphasized, noting that while there had been anecdotal concerns from business owners, the county wanted data-driven research.
Using a "difference in difference modeling methodology," the study created a "synthetic Flagstaff" by examining other similar economies without minimum wage increases to estimate what might have happened without the policy change.
"With any economic decision making, we know there are going to be winners and losers," Baca explained. "With this specific study, we know that there were beneficiaries, and those beneficiaries are folks in the leisure and hospitality industry."
She clarified a critical distinction: "We don't say we lost 4,000 jobs because we actually had job growth in Flagstaff. But what we can say is that, according to the numbers, we have 4,000 fewer jobs than we could have had."
Ah yes, the classic "could have had" argument. I also could have been an astronaut if only those pesky physics laws weren't so strict.
What the conversation glossed over is crucial context: Flagstaff is a tourist destination with a housing crisis and insufficient affordable housing for workers. The study also couldn't fully account for the massive economic disruption of COVID-19, which Professor Baca acknowledged "complicated the study a lot."
DeSimone pounced on the findings to claim he's "never seen a study on minimum wage that somehow this was a win," revealing his own confirmation bias rather than engaging with the entire body of economic literature on minimum wage.
What went unmentioned is that numerous studies have found positive effects from minimum wage increases, including reduced poverty, decreased reliance on public assistance programs, and minimal to no negative effects on employment levels when increases are reasonable and gradual.
Also unexamined was the quality of the jobs that might have been created in the "synthetic Flagstaff" - would they have provided living wages or benefits? Would they have been concentrated in low-wage sectors that keep workers in poverty despite full-time employment?
The Flagstaff economy's unique characteristics—a tourist destination with a high cost of living, limited housing supply, and significant seasonal fluctuations—make it particularly challenging to isolate the effects of a minimum wage policy from other economic factors. But these complexities were flattened in favor of a simple "minimum wage kills jobs" narrative.
Education Demolition Derby: Attacking Public Schools Without Offering Solutions
In the third hour, DeSimone and Brother Joe launched into a prolonged attack on public education, focusing mainly on Tucson Unified School District and celebrating the prospect of dismantling the Department of Education.
"These administrators are destroying education. It's all about them and their crazy left-wing ideas. To the detriment of children," Brother Joe declared.
DeSimone cited literacy statistics: "The literacy level at Sunnyside is 12% of the entire school district can read at level. That's your legacy."
Because nothing fixes literacy like defunding the very institutions responsible for teaching kids to read. It's like trying to fix a flat tire by removing the wheel entirely.
The hosts celebrated the prospect of Trump dismantling the Department of Education, with Brother Joe calling it "a classic mafia hit against administration in public schools" that "couldn't happen to a more creepier bunch of people."
What this discussion deliberately ignored is the systematic underfunding of public education in Arizona, which consistently ranks near the bottom nationally in per-pupil spending. It ignored how decades of tax cuts have starved public schools of resources while privatization efforts have drained students and funding from the public system.
The hosts showed zero interest in how poverty, food insecurity, housing instability, and lack of healthcare access affect educational outcomes. Instead, they pushed the simplistic narrative that all education problems stem from "administrators" and "the left."
DeSimone referred to former TUSD superintendent H.T. Sanchez as an "absolute loser," focusing on administrative salaries rather than the structural challenges facing urban school districts with high poverty rates and significant numbers of English language learners.
This segment revealed perhaps the most fundamental contradiction in conservative education rhetoric: claiming to care deeply about educational outcomes while celebrating policies that would further erode the public education system's capacity to serve the most vulnerable students.
Brother Joe's Market Musings: Half-Truths and Whole Fallacies
The final segment featured Brother Joe, who offered commentary on markets, tariffs, and economic policy, attempting to paint Trump's proposed tariffs as unequivocally beneficial for American manufacturing.
If Trump’s tariffs are so beneficial, why does Trump keep delaying them, thus denying Americans of their benefit?
"That old adage you have to spend money to make money applies here. Trump is negotiating, and it's a come-on by the media," Brother Joe insisted, dismissing concerns about tariffs raising prices for American consumers.
He celebrated announcements of manufacturing investments: "Hyundai Motors South Korea is $20 billion coming into this country to manufacture their cars. So what's wrong with that? Taiwan Semiconductor's building them, doubling and tripling down on their monster plant in Phoenix."
Because nothing says "America First" like celebrating South Korean and Taiwanese companies building plants here, right after complaining about globalism.
Missing from this rosy picture was any acknowledgment of the economic consensus that broad tariffs generally lead to higher prices for consumers, potential trade wars, and disruptions to global supply chains that can harm American businesses dependent on imported components.
The discussion then pivoted to education and workforce development, with both hosts lamenting that American colleges aren't producing graduates capable of filling high-tech jobs at places like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC).
"Do we have a workforce to fill these high-tech jobs?" Brother Joe asked rhetorically, suggesting the answer is no.
This narrative conveniently ignores how decades of anti-union policies, stagnant wages, and corporate prioritization of shareholder value over worker compensation have created a situation where many STEM graduates find better opportunities in finance or tech than in traditional manufacturing.
It also ignores how Republican-led efforts to cut public education funding, from K-12 through university, have undermined the very educational pipeline needed to create the skilled workforce they claim to want.
A Desert Oasis of Hope Amidst the Conservative Sandstorm
Despite the bleak picture painted by DeSimone and his co-hosts, Tucson continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience and community-centered solutions to our challenges. Our community has a rich history of grassroots organizing, mutual aid, and collaborative problem-solving that transcends the divisive rhetoric amplified on shows like "Wake Up."
From community schools providing wraparound services to families to locally owned businesses prioritizing living wages and sustainable practices to neighborhood associations addressing local needs through direct action, Tucsonans are building alternative models that center human dignity and community well-being rather than divisive politics.
If you're feeling discouraged by the constant stream of negativity and division, consider these ways to get involved in building a more just and inclusive Tucson:
Join a mutual aid network like Food Not Bombs Tucson or Casa Maria, which provide direct assistance to community members in need without bureaucratic barriers.
Attend school board meetings for your district to advocate for student-centered policies and adequate resources for teachers and staff.
Support immigrant rights organizations like No More Deaths/No Más Muertes or Casa Alitas, which provide humanitarian aid and legal assistance to migrants.
Volunteer with voter registration drives to ensure all eligible voters can participate in our democracy, especially in underrepresented communities.
Shop at local businesses that treat workers fairly and invest in our community rather than extracting resources.
Remember that the loudest voices aren't always the most representative ones. For every divisive radio host spinning narratives of fear and resentment, there are thousands of Tucsonans quietly working together across differences to build a community where everyone can thrive.
What local initiatives have you found most effective in addressing Tucson's challenges? How do you navigate the gap between media narratives and your lived experience in our community? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Have a scoop or a story you want us to follow up on? Send us a message!
Notable Quotes:
"Most Hispanics are conservative. They just are. Most of the older Hispanics are Kennedy Democrats... We believe in God, family and country." - Daniel Butierrez, attempting to claim Hispanic voters naturally align with Republican values
"All those that just came in illegally all need to be removed." - Daniel Butierrez, advocating mass deportation despite earlier expressing sympathy for undocumented immigrants with established businesses
"We don't say we lost 4,000 jobs because we actually had job growth in Flagstaff. But what we can say is that it looks like, according to the numbers, we have 4,000 less jobs than we could have had." - Professor Nancy Baca, explaining the nuanced findings of the Flagstaff minimum wage study
"The literacy level at Sunnyside is 12% of the entire school district can read at level. That's your legacy." - Christopher DeSimone, citing low literacy rates without acknowledging systematic underfunding of public education
"It's a classic mafia hit against administration in public schools. It couldn't happen to a more creepier bunch of people." - Brother Joe, celebrating the prospect of dismantling the Department of Education
"No way in hell could was there 23,000 people there." - Christopher DeSimone, disputing attendance numbers at the Bernie Sanders/AOC rally in Tucson
"When you say crap like that and your crew has been crushing women, God, for 30, 40 years the Grahalva gang has been crushing women." - Christopher DeSimone, attempting to flip the "brogarchy" criticism back on Adelita Grijalva
People Mentioned
Christopher DeSimone - Host of "Wake Up" on Live the Dream Media Network who repeatedly attacked local Democratic officials and celebrated the prospect of dismantling the Department of Education. Notable quote: "I never call NAU my alma mater because I can't call a university my soul mother."
Daniel Butierrez - Republican candidate for Congressional District 7 trying to appeal to Hispanic voters. Notable quote: "Hispanics are conservative. They just are... We believe in God, family, and country."
Professor Nancy Baca - Director of the Economic Policy Institute at Northern Arizona University who conducted a study on Flagstaff's minimum wage ordinance. Notable quote: "With any economic decision making, we know there are going to be winners and losers."
Malta Joe - Co-host who agreed with DeSimone's take on various issues. No particularly notable quotes.
Brother Joe - Co-host who provided commentary on markets and education. Notable quote about dismantling the Department of Education: "It's a classic mafia hit against administration in public schools."
Adelita Grijalva - Daughter of former Congressman Raúl Grijalva, criticized by DeSimone for using the term "brogarchy" at a Bernie Sanders/AOC rally. DeSimone claimed she was being hypocritical: "I got right off the bat five ways that Adelida Grijalva has been part of the brogarchy."
Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) - Held a rally at Catalina High School in Tucson that DeSimone mocked for its claimed attendance numbers.
H.T. Sanchez - Former TUSD superintendent described by DeSimone as an "absolute loser."
Chris Nanos - Pima County Sheriff criticized by DeSimone for allegedly mishandling cases and using his office against political opponents.
Raúl Grijalva - Former Congressman (recently deceased) who was criticized by DeSimone regarding a settlement with a former staffer.
Mark Kelly - Arizona Senator, criticized by Brother Joe: "Mark Kelly is a phony... He told you about EV, and he was going green, and he had two EVs, electric vehicles. And now Mark, he's, he's cashed them in and he's gone to a big Chevy guzzling gas truck."
Trump - Frequently mentioned positively by both hosts, particularly regarding his proposed tariff policies and plan to dismantle the Department of Education.
