--- title: T. Boone Pickens Backs Donald Trump's Muslim Ban description: The oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens said he supports Donald Trump for president and agreed with his his call for a temporary ban on Muslims canonical: https://time.com/4328056/t-boone-pickets-donald-trump-muslim-ban/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-05-12T17:02:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T17:30:27.045Z article:section: Politics og:title: Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens Backs Donald Trump's Muslim Ban og:description: "I don’t see that impacting the economy at all" og:url: https://time.com/4328056/t-boone-pickets-donald-trump-muslim-ban/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc148815550da68f6/698892f4ab6d77d8fd6a9ac4/t-boone-pickens-trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Key Speakers At The 2016 SALT Conference og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens Backs Donald Trump's Muslim Ban twitter:description: "I don’t see that impacting the economy at all" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc148815550da68f6/698892f4ab6d77d8fd6a9ac4/t-boone-pickens-trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens Backs Donald Trump's Muslim Ban by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 12, 2016 5:02 PM UTC  T. Boone Pickens speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview during the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 11, 2016. T. Boone Pickens speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview during the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 11, 2016.David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell May 12, 2016 5:02 PM UTC The oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens said on Wednesday he supports Donald Trump’s campaign for president and agreed with his his call for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States. Pickens, who is the chief executive officer of BP Capital, said at a hedge fund conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday that he agrees with Trump that Muslims should be banned from entering the United States while they are vetted. “Cut them off so we can figure out who they are coming in,” Pickens told reporters at the SkyBridge Alternatives Conference, [Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-11/oil-tycoon-pickens-backs-trump-call-for-temporary-ban-on-muslims) reports. “We’ve got plenty of people here. We’ve got a good economy and Muslims coming into the U.S. I don’t see that impacting the economy at all.” Legal scholars have debated whether such an unprecedented rule would be constitutional. Pickens, who made his money in the oil industry, is also an adamant opponent of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s candidacy. “If I don’t get Donald Trump, with change, I’m going to get Hillary Clinton,” Pickens said in a [Bloomberg Television interview](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-11/oil-tycoon-pickens-backs-trump-call-for-temporary-ban-on-muslims). “Now tell me, who are you going to vote for? There is no way you can vote for her.” Pickens, who was on the [cover of TIME in 1985](http://content.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19850304,00.html) and was a [TIME 100 honoree in 2009](http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410%5F1893837%5F1894159,00.html), supported former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s run for president. On Wednesday he said Trump has done well in business—though he has had multiple bankruptcies—and that should be an indication for his economic policy. “So you judge a trapper by his pelt,” Pickens said. \[[Bloomberg](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-11/oil-tycoon-pickens-backs-trump-call-for-temporary-ban-on-muslims)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4328056/t-boone-pickets-donald-trump-muslim-ban/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4328056/t-boone-pickets-donald-trump-muslim-ban/"},"headline":"Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens Backs Donald Trump's Muslim Ban","datePublished":"2016-05-12T17:02:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:30:27.045Z","description":"\"I don’t see that impacting the economy at all\"","url":"https://time.com/4328056/t-boone-pickets-donald-trump-muslim-ban/","keywords":["Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc148815550da68f6/698892f4ab6d77d8fd6a9ac4/t-boone-pickens-trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc148815550da68f6/698892f4ab6d77d8fd6a9ac4/t-boone-pickens-trump-muslim-ban.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Key Speakers At The 2016 SALT Conference","caption":"T. Boone Pickens speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview during the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 11, 2016.","creditText":"David Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4328056/t-boone-pickets-donald-trump-muslim-ban/","name":"Oil Tycoon T. Boone Pickens Backs Donald Trump's Muslim Ban"}}]}] ```