WASHINGTON — It’s not just you. This presidential campaign truly has an air of unreality about it, like something out of the Twilight Zone.

The candidates, the pundits and the media in general seem increasingly detached from the real world we live in as a campaign of taunts and insults replaces real debate on issues.

The first woman to clinch the presidential nomination of a major party has no bigger message than to bad-mouth the white male running against her.

A progressive champion who rocketed to popularity for her trenchant criticism of the financial industry and other consumer scammers now has become the name-caller-in-chief for an establishment politician she has in the past vilified as a tool of Wall Street.

The press calls this display of mudslinging by two Democratic women “electrifying,” an adjective generally absent from their coverage of equally enthusiastic rallies with Donald Trump.

Let’s stipulate for a moment that presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is a really flawed individual, riven by deep-seated insecurities, and apparently a pathological liar. It’s a description that would fit, say, Richard Nixon or Lyndon Johnson to a T as well — presidents who for all their flaws have some major accomplishments to their credit.

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If we concede all this, however, then we have to concede that presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, too, is a really flawed individual, riven by deep-seated insecurities, and apparently a pathological liar.

So it’s hard to figure out just what Clinton and her new enabler, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, hope to accomplish with their mudslinging tirades against Trump, such as the one they engaged in on Monday in their first campaign appearance on the same stage.

Warren repeated her cliché-ridden description of Trump as a “small, insecure money grubber.” For good measure, she added that he is “a thin-skinned bully” and “a nasty man” who would “crush you into the dirt to get whatever he wants.”

Clinton played her usual campaign trick of repeating statements long since clarified or “walked back,” taking them out of context and putting a spin on them that was never intended.

For instance, Trump never said he would default on U.S. debt, even though some inartful remarks were construed to mean such by people who understand less about finance than he does.

But this remains part of Clinton’s litany of disdain for the real-estate mogul, just as she continued to accuse Sanders of wanting to throw out Obamacare and every other government health-care program even though that grossly mischaracterized his plans.

Now, instead of nodding like a bobblehead just at the wisdom of her own remarks, as Clinton is wont to do, she’s happy to stand next to Warren and bobble along in approval as the Massachusetts senator preaches to the choir of Clinton supporters who already hate Trump.

And Trump is the only one to blame for creating a climate of hate and division in our politics?

Bernie Sanders didn’t spend his time during the primary campaign raking over every detail of Clinton’s email controversy or slinging mud at Trump.

Rather, he won the hearts and minds of millions of primarily young people — but a sizable number of older voters as well — by addressing their aspirations for a more equal society and a brighter future with specific proposals.

Sanders may hope all those votes he racked up will give him some leverage within the party, but even in the formulation of the platform, Sanders delegate Bill McKibben relates, “so far the Hillary Clinton campaign has been unwilling to commit to delivering specifics about fundamental change in America.”

Once Clinton has the nomination in hand, Sanders will find that he has zero leverage within the party as the nominee does what nominees have always done: consign the platform to the trash can. And if Warren thinks her pandering for Clinton will earn her the vice president slot or give her some leverage in a Clinton administration, she’s in for a big disappointment.

Trump was quick to respond the Clinton-Warren mudslinging jamboree by labeling Warren a sellout.

“As Clinton tries to salvage support among the Bernie Sanders wing of the Democrat Party,” Trump said in statement, Warren “has become a turncoat for the causes she supposedly supports.”

Trump’s statement ticks off chapter and verse on how many times Warren has criticized Clinton for accepting “barely disguised bribes” from “powerful Wall Street businesses.” Warren has railed against pending trade pacts, while Clinton, Trump notes, has made 45 public speeches in support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

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If Clinton goes on to win the race for the White House — along with a blander running mate like Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine — Warren will find herself back in the Senate or in a meaningless cabinet post with zero leverage, having sacrificed her credibility in the progressive camp for nothing.

And even though Trump is making it as easy as possible for Clinton to triumph with his succession of stumbles and gaffes, the race in key swing states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Florida remains very tight, according to recent polls.

The Clinton campaign apparently feels they are on the right track with their unremitting attacks on Trump. But it’s a bit hypocritical to criticize him for fostering division and running on insults when doing the same yourself.

Welcome to the alternate universe that is the 2016 presidential campaign.