'You're going to see a whole new kind of hell to pay if they catch it': Donald Trump says it's 'morally unfair' for Obama to send soldiers into Ebola hot zone

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Real estate tycoon Donald Trump blasted President Barack Obama on Tuesday for his handling of the Ebola crisis overseas, telling MailOnline that putting servicemen and women in close proximity to the deadly virus is 'morally unfair to the soldiers, and to the soldiers' families.'

The perennial Republican maybe-candidate said in an interview that exposure to Ebola is inevitable for the hundreds of U.S. military personnel serving in Liberia.

And it may be only a matter of time, he predicted, before men and women in uniform contract the disease – which kills between 50 and 70 per cent of its victims.

'You're going to see a whole new kind of "hell to pay" if they catch it,' Trump said. 

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FIGHTING WORDS: 'Obama has become immune to "hell to pay",' Donand Trump says, skewering the president for what he sees as a 'morally unfair' Ebola mission handed to servicemen and women

STOPPED: U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams (center), commander of U.S. Army Africa, cheered the groundbreaking of an Ebola treatment center in Liberia just two weeks ago – but he's enduring a 21-day quarantine before he can come back to the United States

SUPERVISION: Soldiers on the base in Vicenza, Italy are confined to a housing complex with barracks, a dining hall and a gym, but allowed no outside access – and they must not interact with other personnel at the site

But with a shrug in his voice, he said moral outrage that used to bother the president now seems to roll off his back.

'He has been hit from so many angles, for so many mistakes that he's made,' Trump explained. 'Obama has become immune to "hell to pay".'

Already a group of about 40 soldiers and army officers – including a major general – are languishing in quarantine on an Italian military base.

The army calls the situation 'controlled monitoring,' according to CNN, but it's a distinction without a difference.

There's been no indication from the Pentagon that any U.S. personnel are sick, but a plane carrying Army Major General Darryl Williams, the commander of U.S. Army Africa, was met on the base by medical staff in full hazmat gear.

'What's not being said,' Trump told MailOnline in a discussion about the situation on the ground, 'is they have to make sure they don't come back into this country if they have it. If our soldiers catch it, that would be absolutely – terrible. Just a disgrace.'

The Pentagon did not respond to questions about why this group of officers and enlisted personnel was being kept in quarantine. Defense Department policy dictates that 'as long as individuals remain asymptomatic, they may return to work and routine daily activities with family members' even after exposure to Ebola.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that the DOD 'has not issued a policy related to their workers that have spent time in West Africa.'

Speaking Tuesday before taking off for a political rally in Wisconsin, President Obama told reporters that military quarantines are handled differently from civilian situations 'because they are, first of all, not treating patients. Second of all, they are not there voluntarily, it’s part of their mission that's been assigned to them by their commanders and ultimately by me.'

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But regardless of what they're doing 4,600 miles away from the nation's capital, Trump says Obama shouldn't be the only world leader to order deployments.

'I don't think we should be sending our armies' to western Africa, he said. 'We're the only ones who send our soldiers, while we're $18 trillion in debt.'

While he allowed that it may be appropriate for American military engineers to build the kind of infrastructure needed to keep Ebola in check in the Third World, he still fixed his gaze on Africa's other side.

'Why are we the only ones doing it?' Trump asked. 'China's not doing it. And China takes a lot out of west Africa. You know, they take a lot! And Russia's not doing it. Nobody's doing it but us. It's unbelievable.'

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Mr. Trump's remarks. And the Obama administration hasn't addressed the thorny problems related to potentially quarantining the full complement of service personnel in western Africa – 4,000 in all.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff have recommended that Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel impose a mandatory 21-day quarantine for all servicemen and women, including National Guard troops, who return from the Ebola hot zone.

COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF: Obama said Tuesday that soldiers are in a different situation from health care workers because 'they are not there voluntarily; it’s part of their mission that's been assigned to them'

Earnest said Monday that the White House 'will let the Department of Defense make an announcement' on their own timetable.

Asked about the wisdom of sending thousands of troops to Africa without a set policy dictating how they might get home, he insisted that 'we’re going to let science drive that process.'

The administration, which is arguing against requiring quarantines for doctors and nurses upon their return from Liberia and other nearby nations, might soon be in the position of mandating them for men and women in uniform.

'It's so sad. So sad,' Trump said. 'They'll send 4 thousand soldiers over there, ill-trained, ill-equipped, never heard the word "Ebola" before this whole thing started a couple of months ago, and now nobody knows how they come back.'

'And nobody knows whether they come back sick!'

It's a very sad thing,' he said. 'And our soldiers should never have been sent over there.