The United States is not even giving a "halfway" attempt to battle the Islamic State (ISIS), and Baghdad will probably fall to the militants, Donald Trump told "Fox & Friends."
"I think we're going a lot less than halfway," the real estate and entertainment billionaire said Monday. "And, probably Baghdad will fall, because you look at what's going on. You look at what's happening with the military."
Islamic State forces are nearing Iraq's capital city of Baghdad and threaten to overtake its airport, despite airstrikes conducted by the U.S. and coalition forces against the militants.
Trump said the Islamic State had "nothing to lose," since National Security Adviser Susan Rice was "giving everything away" with the administration's strategy.
Rice on Sunday told NBC's "Meet the Press" that the U.S. was not "going to be in a ground war again in Iraq," and maintained it was still the "very early days of the strategy" against the Islamic State.
"Why would she say that, even if it's so? Why would she say anything?" Trump asked. "These people are so incompetent, it's hard to believe."
Since the administration of President Barack Obama alerted the Islamic State ahead of time that the U.S. would be conducting airstrikes, Trump said it gave the militant forces time to prepare.
"They're staying with the civilian population before we started bombing. They said, 'In two weeks, we're going to start bombing.' So, they prepared," he said.
Trump was equally insistent that the Obama administration was mishandling the possibility of Ebola spreading in the U.S., and said he didn't understand why the president would not halt air travel from West Africa, where the disease has claimed the most lives.
"If we had a real leader in Washington, he would stop the flights, because you have to stop the flights in from West Africa," Trump said. "Inconceivable that he doesn't do it. And, nobody understands it."
In light of the threats facing the country, Trump questioned the amount of time Obama has played golf.
On Sunday, the president reportedly played his 200th round of golf since taking office.
"When you're president, you sort of say, 'I'm going to give it up for a couple of years, and I'm going to really focus on the job,'" he said. "There are times to play, and there are times that you can't play. It sends the wrong signal."
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