5 Things To Know Before Tonight's Presidential Debate

ATLANTA — You may think we’ve been here before — and we have.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are facing off Thursday night in their first debate of the 2024 presidential campaign. They’ve done this before, of course, four years ago, but things are different now.

Biden is the White House incumbent, and Trump is the Republican challenger — and both are now in the position of having served in the job they’re seeking from voters in November. There’s no longer a global pandemic that makes in-person campaigning, as well as debating, logistically challenging, and even dangerous. Biden has since turned 81, while Trump isn’t far behind, at 78. And Trump has become the first former president to be convicted of a felony as he faces a possible prison sentence.

All of these factors will make for a historic meeting of the two presumptive nominees, set to begin airing at 9 p.m. Eastern time on CNN. Here’s what to know going into the debate.

1. It’s the first, and possibly last, time they debate.

Biden and Trump last month agreed to two debates before Election Day: Thursday’s event, which comes unusually early in the election cycle, and another debate set for Sept. 10, several weeks before the election. (It was the desire for this specific timing that prompted the campaigns to forgo working with the Commission on Presidential Debates.)

But depending on what happens at the former president’s sentencing hearing next month on his 34-count conviction for falsifying business records, there’s the possibly Trump might be behind bars before the next debate arrives. In that case, debating Biden might be the least of Trump’s concerns if he’s confronting the reality of accepting the Republican Party’s nomination and