I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Can’t no more) I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Can’t no more) I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road I’m gonna ride ’til I can’t no more (Instrumental) T. Boone Pickens, a billionaire hedge-fund manager who made his fortune working at the legendary energy firm Enron, has never been one to mince words. He was an outspoken critic of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, derided the media as “the opposition party,” and is known for giving a blistering assessment of just about anything. He can be found pontificating on television, writing op-eds in The Wall Street Journal, and offering his takes on the financial world as a regular contributor to Fox Business. A native of Texas, Boone also ran for the United States Senate in 2010 and served two terms as the comptroller of Texas, from 2001 to 2010, where he helped his state emerge from a recession by cutting taxes and overseeing a billion-dollar budget surplus. But his primary focus is his own hedge fund, BP Capital Management, which began life as Barings Capital before the former Barings bank was swept away in the collapse of its once-powerful parent company. The firm’s more than 30,000 investors have included J.K. Rowling, Jim Cramer, and John Paulson, the man who helped make him a billionaire. Now the 69-year-old Buckskin Park native and Dallas native has a target on his back: President Donald Trump. And even though he had dinner with Trump and the first lady, Melania, at the White House last month, he still feels a measure of pride in the way he sees the President using his skills and his money. “I supported [Trump’s] candidacy from day one. I said he could win the presidency, and I think he proved it,” Pickens told Bloomberg. “I’m no fan of Washington, but he’s getting there with how he’s using this talent to change things, to make America great again.” Pickens says he has a high regard for the man who ran against Trump. “[Democratic candidate] Bernie Sanders’s economic platform was terrific, and the issues, as well. It was pretty much what we campaigned on,” he told CNBC. Even though the former Democrat who switched his party affiliation from independent to Republican says he’s not a Hillary Clinton supporter, he also is not planning to vote for Trump. “I’m not even thinking about that right now. I’m just going to be quiet and take it as it comes. I’m not taking sides,” he told CNBC. But a new report claims the Pickens money could come in handy for a President Trump. Even though the billionaire has been a staunch supporter of Republicans through-out his life, he is “willing to sacrifice his party loyalty and accept tax hikes as long as they’re paired with spending cuts,” according to a report from Axios. The report claims he believes that the federal debt and national deficit are “overwhelming problems, threatening U.S. economic growth.” Pickens told CNBC that “our country will never be what we need it to be until we take care of the debt, we take care of the deficit.” He wants to see a two-part plan to address those issues. “You’ve got to do what you have to do and what I want to do is help make it happen. I’m an optimist, but I know it can’t happen without cuts.” And Pickens is a major proponent of infrastructure, and has long been in favor of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, an oil pipeline that would connect the oil sands fields in Alberta to Texas refineries along the Gulf of Mexico. So when Axios asked Pickens if he would support the Obama administration’s decision to delay a key permit for the pipeline, he responded: “No, I don’t.” Trump’s decision to put TransCanada CEO Russell Girling in charge of the Keystone project should have pleased Pickens. “He’s an expert,” said Pickens. The energy billionaire also explained his relationship with Trump. “I’m a business guy. The President is an entrepreneur, and that’s his background,” he said. “I love his style of business, the way he has been able to accomplish so much so quickly. I’ve had dinner with him, just the two of us, a couple of months ago, in New York City. I think it was about a month ago. Just the two of us, and they set it up. We had a wonderful dinner, and it was two guys talking about America, about Trump’s business plans and his future. I like him, personally. And I like his style.” The Trump administration has not announced any plans to help Pickens’ big plan for a pipeline and the future of the coal industry. He says he will do whatever he can to help Trump succeed. “I think he’s doing just fine, taking his time to get in place the kind of people he wants, and getting things accomplished. I’m sure he’s busy. He has a full plate and there’s plenty to do, but we have to get going on this debt and the deficit. It’s a big, big, problem.” And if he could make one wish for Trump, he would want to take a call from the President. “I’d love to be in the Oval Office with him, in that situation,” he told CNBC.