For Biden and Trump, 2022 is 2020 sequel — and 2024 preview?

This year’s midterm elections are playing out as a strange continuation of the last presidential race — and a potential preview of the next one.

Donald Trump, who refused to exit the stage after his defeat and continues to rally his supporters with lies about voter fraud, has spent months raging against Joe Biden, reshaping down-ballot campaigns that normally function as a straightforward referendum on the incumbent president.

The result is an episode of political shadowboxing with little precedent, as the current president and his immediate predecessor — and possible future challenger — crisscross the country in support of their party’s candidates.

Even as he faces multiple investigations, including a criminal probe into the handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Trump has been holding raucous rallies in battleground states, where he alternates between touting his handpicked candidates and denouncing his enemies. He belittles and excoriates Biden while lying, as he did in Ohio last month, that “we didn't lose” the last election.

Biden has so far steered clear of some of the tightest midterm races, instead focusing on fundraisers and official events where he draws contrasts between Democratic and Republican policy agendas. He often avoids direct references to “the last guy,” but on Saturday in Oregon, Biden warned that “Trump controls the Republican Party.”

Sometimes the two men travel to the same places, such as when they visited Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, within days of each other, a reflection of the narrow political map that will determine which party controls the US Senate.

“It’s remarkably unusual,” said Jeffrey Engel, founding director of the Centre for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University, who strained to think of any comparison in previous election cycles.

“Without exception, since the Great Depression” — Republican Herbert Hoover tried to plot a path back to power despite losing to Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932 — “we have not had a former president who believed they still had a viable political career ahead of them,” he said.

Neither Trump nor Biden has formally announced they will run again. Trump has come close to declaring his candidacy, and Biden has said he intends to seek a second term.

If they face off again, the competition between them could become one of the longest and impactful political duels in American history, spanning several years and multiple elections.

Voters seem to have little appetite for a rematch.

A recent AP-NORC poll shows only about 3 in 10 Americans want either Biden or Trump to run for president in two years. Just 5 in 10 Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, while 6 out of 10 Republicans hope to see Trump seek the presidency again.

Engel said another battle between Biden and Trump would likely prove dispiriting.

“What that fundamentally means is our country is not moving forward,” he said. “I have not met anybody who relishes that campaign.”

However, it's clear that both men see their fortunes tied to the other.

When CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Biden whether he’s the only one who could fend off his predecessor in another campaign, the president sidestepped the question but expressed confidence about his chances.

“I believe I can beat Donald Trump again,” he said.

Trump would take issue with the use of the word “again” — he continues to spread the lie that Biden only took office through voter fraud.

It’s an integral part of Trump's political message, and he never fails to bring it up at rallies for Republican candidates who have endorsed his false views on the last election. Sometimes the rhetoric dives even deeper into conspiracies, a reminder that another campaign could represent an even sharper break with reality.

In Arizona, during his most recent rally, Trump darkly suggested that Biden is surrounded by “vicious, very smart people” who are “pulling strings.”

“No one thought this could happen in our country, and it all happened because of a rigged and stolen election,” he said.

The former president has also tightened his embrace of the QAnon conspiracy theory, which portrays Trump as battling sinister, hidden forces.

Using his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself wearing a Q lapel pin overlaid with the words “The Storm is Coming," referencing his eventual victory over opponents who would be tried — or even executed — on live television.

People close to Trump have said they believe a strong performance by Republicans in November will further encourage Trump to run again in two years, as he has been openly teasing for months.