Our contributors rewatched the 2020 Biden-Trump debates for clues. Here’s what they predict will happen Thursday

The past isn’t always prologue — but this week it might turn out be. That’s what can happen when two bitter rivals for the White House meet for a rematch on a debate stage and their positions on many of the major issues are well-established.

Even so, President Joe Biden’s and former President Donald Trump’s face-off this week — expected to be one of the most consequential moments so far of campaign 2024 — is almost certain to surprise us in some way. Debates almost always do.

CNN Opinion editor Stephanie Griffith asked several of our veteran political observers to look back at 2020’s debates and share their thoughts about what insights can be gleaned from those encounters, and what we might expect to see in Thursday night’s showdown.