Expanding on this answer one could use a stored procedure:
CALL duplicate_table('tableName');
Which will result in a duplicate table called tableName_20181022235959 If called when
SELECT NOW();
results:
2018-10-22 23:59:59
Implementation
DELIMITER $$
CREATE PROCEDURE duplicate_table(IN tableName VARCHAR(255))
  BEGIN
    DECLARE schemaName VARCHAR(255) DEFAULT SCHEMA();
    DECLARE today VARCHAR(14) DEFAULT REPLACE(REPLACE(REPLACE(NOW(), '-', ''), ' ', ''), ':', ''); -- update @ year 10000
    DECLARE backupTableName VARCHAR(255) DEFAULT CONCAT(tableName, '_', today);
    IF fn_table_exists(schemaName, tableName)
      THEN
        CALL statement(CONCAT('CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ', backupTableName,' LIKE ', tableName));
        CALL statement(CONCAT('INSERT INTO ', backupTableName,' SELECT * FROM ', tableName));
        CALL statement(CONCAT('CHECKSUM TABLE ', backupTableName,', ', tableName));
      ELSE
        SELECT CONCAT('ERROR: Table "', tableName, '" does not exist in the schema "', schemaName, '".') AS ErrorMessage;
      END IF;
  END $$
DELIMITER ;
DELIMITER $$
CREATE FUNCTION fn_table_exists(schemaName VARCHAR(255), tableName VARCHAR(255))
  RETURNS TINYINT(1)
  BEGIN
    DECLARE totalTablesCount INT DEFAULT (
      SELECT COUNT(*)
      FROM information_schema.TABLES
      WHERE (TABLE_SCHEMA COLLATE utf8_general_ci = schemaName COLLATE utf8_general_ci)
        AND (TABLE_NAME COLLATE utf8_general_ci = tableName COLLATE utf8_general_ci)
    );
    RETURN IF(
      totalTablesCount > 0,
      TRUE,
      FALSE
    );
  END $$
DELIMITER ;
DELIMITER $$
CREATE PROCEDURE statement(IN dynamic_statement TEXT)
  BEGIN
      SET @dynamic_statement := dynamic_statement;
      PREPARE prepared_statement FROM @dynamic_statement;
      EXECUTE prepared_statement;
      DEALLOCATE PREPARE prepared_statement;
  END $$
DELIMITER ;