A MAGA pundit has accused former President Obama and Pope Leo XIV of carrying out a secret plot to damage Republican prospects in the midterm elections.
Hal Lambert, the CEO of Point Bridge Capital, suggested that the two men were trying to turn Catholics against Trump. Lambert’s company offers a MAGA exchange-traded fund, which allows conservatives to invest in companies aligned with their views.
“This is 100% political, ok,” he said on Monday’s episode of CNN NewsNight. “This is all about trying to hurt President Trump’s Catholic vote during the midterms and Republicans in the midterms.”
Then, Lambert began to lay out his theory, which involves the Chicago-born pope and Obama, a former Illinois senator. Lambert also mentioned David Axelrod, Obama’s former special advisor, who previously served as the founding director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics.
“If you look at what…play out the dots here,” he continued. “David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo last week.
“They’re talking about Obama going to visit Pope Leo. Pope Leo is from Chicago,” Lambert added. “All of a sudden, now, Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel.”
Lambert concluded by referencing an appearance by three cardinals on 60 Minutes, each of whom criticized the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“This is all about trying to get the Catholic vote against Trump,” he said.
Abby Phillip, the show’s host, interjected by suggesting that there were “a lot of flaws in this argument.”
Lambert fired back, claiming there were “no flaws” in his theory and questioning why Axelrod would meet the pope.
Later in his tirade, Lambert even branded the pope’s call to stop violence in the U.S.’s war with Iran as “milquetoast.”
The pope held a closed-door meeting with Axelrod on April 9, the Vatican confirmed.
Neither the pope nor the former special advisor has divulged the details of their conversation, but the latter wrote on X that he was “gratified and honored” to meet the pope.
“It was scheduled months ago and unrelated to any prospective meeting with President Obama,” Axelrod added.
In an email obtained by Block Club Chicago, Axelrod said he felt a “special kinship” with the pope as a “Chicagoan.” He added that he felt “admiration” for the pope because of the “tremendous moral leadership he is providing the world.”
Whether Obama is meeting with the pope, as Lambert claims, is unknown. However, in February, the former president said he was eager for a meeting between the pair to take place.
“The person who I have not yet met, and that I'm looking forward to meeting - and I hope I get an opportunity sometime in the future - is the new pope, who's from Chicago, and a White Sox fan,” he said on No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen.
In recent days, Trump has faced international backlash to his criticism of the pope. He has been criticized by Marjorie Taylor Greene, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and conservative activist Riley Gaines.
In a blistering post, Trump claimed that the pope was “WEAK” on crime and suggested that he preferred the pontiff’s brother. Trump also claimed that the Chicago-born pope would not have been chosen in May 2025 if he had not won the 2024 presidential election.
Shortly after, the president uploaded an image that appeared to depict him as Jesus. He has since deleted the post and claimed that he believed the image showed him dressed as a doctor.
The pope responded by saying that he had “no fear” of the Trump administration and that he did not want to debate the president.
Vice President JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, weighed in by claiming that it would be “best for the Vatican to stick to matters of morality.”
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