Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBubba Wallace to be driver of Michael Jordan, Denny Hamlin NASCAR team Graham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Southwest Airlines, unions call for six-month extension of government aid MORE carried his attacks on former Defense Secretary Robert Gates from Twitter to a rally in Colorado Springs, Colo., Saturday night, calling Gates a "nasty guy."

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“We had a clown today, an absolute clown. Robert Gates — he’s supposed to be an expert; he’s been there forever," Trump said.

"Never met the guy, never saw him. I saw him on television, didn’t like him. The end result is look where we are. He’s a mess, OK? He’s a mess, so he goes out and he says negative things about me. I never met him; I never talked to him. Believe me, I am so much better at what he’s doing than he is, you won’t even believe it."

Trump hit Gates for criticizing Presidents George W. Bush and Obama.

"He’s a nasty guy. Probably has a problem that we don’t know about," he said.

Gates specifically ripped Trump for “naive and irresponsible” expressions of admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and for a Middle East plan he called a “dangerous approach oblivious to the reality” of the region. Trump fired back on Twitter, calling Gates "dopey."

Trump said at the rally that Gates's leadership — he was in office from 2006 to 2011 — left the world worse off and cost trillions of dollars and many lives.