Can lightning bend metal?

The intensity of Earth's magnetic field is 25 to 65 µT. The electric current of a typical lightning strike is about 30 kA. The resulting Laplace force is around 1 Newton per meter of pole. A pole or rod wide enough to not be vaporized by the current would most likely not be bent by such a small force.

For comparison, a typical telephone pole with a diameter of 20 cm would be subjected to the same force by a wind speed of ~10 km/h (light breeze).