Trump – who, however improbably, claims to be considering a presidential bid – said Monday that since his first public statement on the issue last week, “a lot of facts are emerging” that are making him question more seriously where Obama was born.”I am really concerned,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox News. “You have no doctors, you have no nurses … that remember.” – Trump is now ‘really concerned’ about Obama’s birthplace

WASHINGTON — It’s been building for a while.

Sean Hannity teased the trailer today on his radio show last Friday, with it continuing on Fox News channel during Geraldo’s show over the weekend. Donald Trump doubles down today.

However, Hannity also mentioned Jerome Corsi last Friday, the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth troll who helped take down war hero John Kerry. Sean reported there will be a book out in May by Corsi on the subject of Pres. Obama and his birth certificate. I’ve now confirmed it, with the video below proof.

Republicans need someone to legitimize birtherism, and since Trump’s presidential ambitions are equal to his taste for power, being the front man willing to simply ask questions when he hasn’t anything to risk also gets Republicans indebted to him.

Last Friday Sean Hannity started off his radio show by simply saying Trump was only asking questions and everyone is in an uproar. What’s wrong with asking questions? The next thing out of his mouth was how birtherism is a legitimate issue, because even the notorious Roger Stone says there is a “huge niche,” out there interested in the topic. (Roger Stone helped bring down Eliot Spitzer, the most effective sheriff of Wall Street we’ve ever had.) Trump’s case begins with mentioning the fact he has people from his past who remember him, but Barack Obama does not. What’s up with that?

Taking it to “The View” last week, Donald Trump began to mainstream the subject.

Last week Rush applauded Trump, saying he’s only giving Obama a chance to explain:

On Limbaugh’s show Thursday, the radio talker Limbaugh sided with Trump’s beating of the birth certificate drum. “You and I have known all along that we’re dealing with a man-child here who has, literally, no qualifications, no experience, and according to Donald Trump now, no birth certificate,” Limbaugh declared.

“Trump is performing a valuable service here. He is attempting to help Obama out of a jam. You can’t say Trump is a kook right-wing birther. Trump realized the problem that Obama faces here with credibility. He’s giving him a chance here to establish some credibility by producing the birth certificate,” Limbaugh added.

Performing a valuable service is exactly what Trump is doing for Republicans, for business, too, and being applauded by Rush isn’t by accident. Trump can afford to talk it up. He’s got nothing to lose.

Right-wing radio is where Republican campaigns start. I go way back with the medium, having studied it for 20 years. It’s where they get out the vote, create the narrative, start it rolling. It’s the connection to communities a.m. stations provide that Democrats have never understood.

There have been hints before, the many birther bills, including Rep. Bachmann’s first likely presidential hire, Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson, who offered one up in Bachmann’s home state of Iowa.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) has previously said that if she ran for president, the “first thing” she’d do at the first debate would be to present her birth certificate. Not that she would have much of a choice, if the state lawmaker she’s expected to hire to manage her operations in Iowa has his way. Bachmann, who has all-but announced she’s running, is reportedly planning to bring on Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson—the author of a recent birther bill—as her political director in the presidential bellwether state. – Mother Jones

That’s nothing compared to what’s coming.

Republicans believe they can create enough doubt about Barack Obama to push an election towards their guy, Mitt Romney, who is not going to take no for an answer this time. He is going to be the nominee and he’s prepared for the long slog to make it happen, while others do the dirty work, as always happens in these things. Having warned about Romney since 2006, even as Obama looks unbeatable, there is no doubt there won’t be near the enthusiasm for his reelection, because people have soured on his betrayals of progressivism.

As I already wrote about, a Democratic insider said to me recently, if Romney makes it through the primaries he’s dangerous, because Barack Obama has never run against a competent Republican.

However, if Republicans can delegitimize Obama even in a small way to gotv, anyone can slide in to the nomination.

Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show that whoever is willing to take it to Obama will win this thing and Republicans can’t be worried about charges of racism or anything else.

There is no one more dangerous than Jerome Corsi with a book of ferocious political fiction, with the entire right-wing audience hanging on every word, while someone like Donald Trump, though there will be many others, including Bachmann who will produce her birth certificate when she announces, who aren’t as interested in the presidency as much as their own power and the perks they’ll get for targeting the President. Taking one for the team to legitimize the question in the light of day like Trump did on ABC, the biggest barker could get a cabinet position, access or maybe the vice presidency.

All of these different birtherism mentions are not happening by accident. The playing field is wide and deep, with Republicans never shy about scorched earth. It’s what they do.

Republicans are preparing for battle, not an election, a battle. It’s already begun against the unions, in McCarthyite actions, against Planned Parenthood, and it won’t stop there, with AARP the latest. Since Barack Obama won’t fight for the tenets of the Democratic Party the Republicans have decided to take them all down.

It’s also coming through the innocent questions of birtherism made by sly surrogates, helped along through the lies and treachery of people like Jerome Corsi.

The swiftboating of Pres. Obama through birtherism has begun, with Donald Trump happily leading the charge and paving the way for Jerome Corsi and the 2012 campaign to come.

Taylor Marsh is a political analyst, writer and commentator on national politics. A veteran national politics writer, Taylor’s been writing on the web since 1996. She has reported from the White House, been profiled in the Washington Post, The New Republic, and has been seen on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal, CNN, MSNBC, Al Jazeera English and Al Jazeera Arabic, as well as on radio across the dial and on satellite, including the BBC. Marsh lives in the Washington, D.C. area. This column is cross posted from her blog.