A pro-Trump GOP donor believes former President Barack Obama has been conspiring with his former chief strategist, David Axelrod, and Pope Leo XIV to hurt President Donald Trump.
Appearing on CNN this Monday, GOP donor Hal Lambert attributed the pope’s recent criticisms of President Trump’s foreign policy decisions to a plot between Obama, Axelrod, and the pope.
“This is 100 percent political,” he began. “This is all about trying to hurt President Trump’s Catholic vote during the midterms and Republicans during the midterms. Play out the dots here.”
🚨 HAL LAMBERT JUST CALLED IT OUT
“David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo…all of a sudden, now Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel.”
“Axelrod is the chief strategist for Obama. The Pope was saying he’s not political. Why is he… pic.twitter.com/AQ4vwcoLty
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) April 14, 2026
Lambert then proceeded to “play out the dots.”
“David Axelrod goes and visits Pope Leo last week,” he said. “They’re talking about Obama going to visit Pope Leo. Pope Leo is from Chicago. All of a sudden, now Pope Leo is out attacking Trump and the policies of the United States and Israel.”
“You have three cardinals come out today, attacking the immigration policy. This is all about trying to get the Catholic vote against Trump,” he added.
As “proof,” he asked why the pope had felt it necessary to meet Obama’s former chief strategist.
“The pope would say he’s not political, [but] why is he meeting with the chief strategist for both Obama’s campaign and in the White House?” Lambert asked.
He also wondered why the pope had such selective outrage about current events.
“When Iran killed 30,000+ of their own citizens, he didn’t call out the Iranian regime at all,” Lambert correctly noted. “He said we need to stop violence. That was very milquetoast. That wasn’t calling out the Iranian regime, and yet he’s calling out the United States and Israel.”
The drama between Trump and the pope started on Tuesday, April 7, when, while speaking to reporters, Pope Leo slammed Trump for threatening to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” if the rogue regime didn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Listen to some of what he said below:
(Video Credit: Vatican News)
“Today, as we all know, there has also been this threat against the entire people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable!” he added in Italian, according to Vatican News. “There are certainly issues of international law here, but even more, it is a moral question concerning the good of the people as a whole, in its entirety.”
“I would invite citizens of all the countries involved to contact the authorities — political leaders, congressmen — to ask them, tell them to work for peace and to reject war always,” he continued, according to USA Today.
The president fired back five days later with a lengthy Truth Social post attacking the pope for being “weak on crime” and “terrible for foreign policy.”
🚨 @POTUS: “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy. He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers,… pic.twitter.com/UE6E00n74h
— Real America’s Voice (RAV) (@RealAmVoice) April 13, 2026
Not long after Trump bashed the pope, he also posted a meme depicting himself as the Christian savior Jesus Christ.
Combined, the attack on the pope and the supposed “mockery” of Jesus have hurt the president’s popularity among Christians and Catholics. So much so, in fact, that CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten suggested on Monday that the president is jealous of the pope’s polling numbers.
“You know, maybe President Trump is jealous of Pope Leo XIV, because it is a blowout. It is a blowout!” he said, pointing to an NBC News poll showing the pope 46 points ahead of the president in popularity.
Maybe Trump’s jealous of the Pope?… It’s a blowout favoring the Pope in terms of popularity in America.
The Pope’s net popularity rating: +34 pt. Trump: -12 pt.
With American Catholics specifically, they agree with the Pope on the war: it has a -10 pt net approval with them. pic.twitter.com/7cdIX3hkZx
— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) April 13, 2026
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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