Over the past month, unfolding events on the Democrat side of the 2024 presidential election race have reminded me of watching 1950s Walt Disney’s “Fantasyland” on TV when I was a kid. The “Fantasyland” episodes (as contrasted with “Frontierland,” “Adventureland,” and “Tomorrowland”) were just that — pure fantasy. They were entertaining, but even nine-year-olds knew they were not real. Evidently, Disney realized that it couldn’t hoodwink its young audience.

Time and again during the DNC extravaganza, I found myself imagining the scene where the Democrat Party’s brain trust tries to figure out what it will take to retain political power in this next election cycle. I’m visualizing a half-dozen or so political insiders in a swanky boardroom somewhere, locked in intense, free-wheeling decision-making about our nation’s future. It’s the famous smoke-filled room without the smoke.

Central to their debate is the question of exactly how much wool they can pull over the American electorate’s collective eyes. I can’t help wondering: Do they think we believe this stuff?

In my own fantasyland, the conversation around the table goes something like this:

Seat belts on, gang. We’ve got work to do. We MUST win this thing — and the way to do that is to act as if there are no limits constraining us. Because there are none. Think BIG.

Consider this: For four years, we insisted that Joe Biden was not just adequate but that he was at the top of his game, sharp as a tack. Sure, there were some naysayers, but we never backed down. And it worked — we blew through the primary season with barely a scratch, and when it was time for the inevitable change, we didn’t have to wait for millions of headscratchers to pick their new leader. We did it for them, and we didn’t have to worry about reeducating them if they made the wrong choice. Remember Bernie Sanders?

At this point, we just have to manage Biden’s graceful exit (always tough when someone gets thrown overboard); many of our folks like him, so we must preempt any backlash. We’ll make DNC Day One all about Biden love, pass out a thousand “We ❤️ you Joe” signs, make sure every speaker thanks him for his patriotic decision to step down, and enthusiastically applaud his heart-tugging speech that night — then he’s gone.

From here on, we’re going with Kamala, and it’s 100% doable. The glass ceiling is ours to break! Forget her low approval ratings — the vice presidency is old news. We just need to keep reminding the voters that she’s exactly who they’ve been waiting for. Michelle Obama is prepared to declare her the most qualified candidate ever — that’s huge!

We’ll need to patch together a new set of policies for her — she’s been pretty much on the wrong side of everything. Just disappear the old ones. No problem — the only people who remember them are the dweebs who watch Fox News, and they’re all going to vote for Trump anyway.

Now about the new guy, Walz. He fits the picture perfectly — the guy with commonsense Midwestern values. Just try to bury any mention of tampons in fourth-grade boys’ bathrooms — play up football and guns.

Stay cool. It’s going to work. The money’s rolling in from all the donors who were waiting for us to yank Biden. The joyful thing is really taking hold. Kamala’s a happy camper, as she should be — parachuting into the White House. The media loves her, they love Walz, and they hate Trump. We’re on the way, so enjoy the ride!

OK, now let’s get real. The above is 100% fantasy. I made it all up. I have little concrete idea of how and where political strategy is hatched. But does it make any difference? Whether the snow job is the work of the 2024 version of George Orwell’s 1984 Big Brother or the automatic product of politicians who have learned that they can say anything that serves their political interests, the fact remains that every example hypothesized in the paragraphs above actually came to pass, this year, before our very eyes.

Central characters in this election cycle have been transformed — to the point of being unrecognizable — in order to align with anticipated voter preferences. There’s Joe Biden’s supposedly patriotic passing of the torch and the Democrats’ undying love of him. Ditto with the rebranding of candidate Kamala Harris, the real-life Cinderella who’s ideal for the job, just sadly misjudged until now. Her running mate is everyone’s favorite Midwestern dad, nothing less. And all three are presented as centrists, just like the American electorate.

I’m a fervent believer in our democratic election process. Our voters are the ones who must decide the direction of the country and the leader best able to take us in that direction. But that only works if they have a reasonably accurate understanding of the candidates and their policies. Right now, they’re not getting it.

And the jackpot question: Is anyone actually buying this baloney? Is the voting public as gullible as their overseers presume?

We’ll see on Election Day.