George Santos Talks With Meghan McCain About Grindr, Being a Gay Republican, and Parenthood

Fabulist New York U.S. Rep. George Santos is the latest guest on Meghan McCain’s podcast Megan McCain Has Entered the Chat. The episode, which premieres Tuesday, features McCain talking with the out Republican about meeting his husband on Grindr and how he was received as a gay conservative in New York.

In several clips provided exclusively to The Advocate, McCain, who is the daughter of the late Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, asks Santos about wanting children, how he met his husband, and being a gay Republican.

“I never ever denied how we met,” Santos tells McCain. “We met on one of those dating apps.”

When she asks which one, he tells her that it was Grindr.

Santos’s marriage recently made headlines after the lawmaker name-dropped his husband in a social media post honoring the late California Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. The disclosure caught the internet off guard, spawning a flurry of bemused reactions since many seemed to have had no idea the lawmaker was married.

“We've been together in total of five years, and we were three years together before we got married,” Santos says. “We moved in with each other a year into it.”

Santos also tells the conservative pundit that he and his husband want to be parents, but it might be hard. On the one hand, they are a gay couple, and then there's the "insanity" of being a public figure's kid, Santos explains.

"Let's say we adopt one with everything about me out there. I don't know how a child can bear all the insanity that could come from that," Santos says.

The clips do not reveal if McCain asks Santos about the many lies he’s been caught in or the fact he is currently facing more than 20 criminal indictments, in addition to House Ethics Committee investigations into his finances and alleged sexual misconduct.

On being a gay Republican, Santos told McCain that “It was easier coming out as a gay man in my 20s in New York City than it was coming out a conservative.”

McCain comments in the clip that Caitlyn Jenner has said that it was easier for her to come out as transgender than it was to come out as conservative.

Anti-transgender legislation — targeting gender-affirming care, trans youth in sports, and even bathroom access — has been proposed and passed in numerous Republican-led legislatures.

Santos has repeatedly faced calls to resign over his many lies and his current criminal cases.

You can listen to the full interview starting at 3 a.m. Eastern/12 a.m. Pacific, October 24, wherever you get your podcasts.