1. Donald J. Trump
   Shinzō Abe
2. Emomali Rahmon
   Xi Jinping

China's President Xi Jinping has profound power in China, having extended his tenure by changing the Communist Party rules to allow him to serve more than two terms as President. His nation has no Bill of Rights to speak of, meaning the President has nearly limitless power. That said, President Xi is very sensitive about comparisons between his looks and those of Winnie the Pooh, even banning mentions of the bear from the internet.

1. Astrophysics
   Physical education
2. Abstract theory of dead languages
   Zoological engineering and accounting

Winner of the 2017 Kyrgyzstan presidential contest, Sooronbay Jeenbekov's education was a product of the Soviet Union and its priorities, combined with the practical needs of Kyrgyzstan. He earned two degrees, one in "zoological engineering" and one in accounting. Mom and dad must be very proud.

1. Emomali Rahmon
   Donald J. Trump
2. Alexander Van der Bellen
   Angela Merkel

Angela Merkel, whose first national office as a cabinet minister for women and youth was under PM Helmut Kohl's regime, is a member of the CDU, which stands for the Christian Democratic Union. Considered a relatively conservative party by German standards, the CDU would be seen as outright leftist in America.

1. Tickle-torturer
   Doctor
2. Bomber pilot
   Corrupt businessman

Before Bashar al-Assad followed in the footsteps of his father, Hafez "Hama Massacre" al-Assad, who killed tens of thousands of his own people after seizing power in a military coup, the younger Assad dreamed of being a physician. Many Syrians probably wish he had followed that dream, rather than perpetuating his family's bloody reign.

1. He was accused of being part of a Kurdish separatist group.
   He was accused of littering.
2. Are you kidding? He was in Iraq! They didn't need a reason!
   He published a critique of Saddam Hussein.

A Kurd, President Barham Salih of Iraq was arrested twice in 1979 because the government accused him of being part of a Kurdish nationalist group for having photographed government protesters, spending more than a month in jail, where he was tortured. All this before he even graduated from high school.

1. Shinzō Abe
   Donald J. Trump
2. Vladimir V. Putin
   Queen Elizabeth II

Vladimir V. Putin, who has likened homosexuality to Satan worship and frequently seeks opportunities to show his bare chest, or be seen wrestling with soldiers, is a diminutive 5 feet, 7 inches. This is exactly the same height as Napoleon Bonaparte. President Putin is the leader of Russia.

1. Religious scholar
   Barber
2. Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla
   College professor

Unsurprisingly, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, a theocrat, comes from a family whose profession has been, for centuries, religious scholarship. Before becoming Ayatollah in 1989, the provenance of the Iranian religious regime, helmed by the Ayatollahs, lead to the line in "Mad Max 2" when Lord Humungus is referred to as "Ayatollah of Rock 'n' Rolla."

1. Ending the mismanagement of the Department of Redundancy Department!
   Ending all unnecessary medical procedures!
2. Providing free access to some sort of medicine that everyone likes!
   Actually, his platform was something of a Rorschach test.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, popularly known as AMLO, made two runs at the Presidency of Mexico before being elected, having left his old party altogether. The platform he ran on in 2018 was heavy or rhetoric and light on specifics, even among Obrador's own staff. As a result, voters could see in him what they wanted to see, which was clever.

1. Justin Trudeau
   Emmanuel Macron
2. Paula-Mae Weekes
   Emomali Rahmon

Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is the son of 16-year former Canadian PM Pierre Trudeau, whose time as Prime Minister coincided with his son's upbringing. Pierre Trudeau's father, Justin's grandfather, saw that Pierre benefited from an excellent education, one that took him to the heights of power. Pierre Trudeau benefited similarly from his father and spent some time as a schoolteacher before entering politics.

1. Shinzō Abe
   Viktor Orbán
2. Gotabaya Rajapaksa
   Alexander Van der Bellen

Viktor Orbán, who was Prime Minister of Hungary from 1998 to 2002 and again from 2010 until the present, earned his law degree in 1987 and began his career in a European research group sponsored by The Soros Foundation, a group that now decries Orbán as anti-democratic.

1. Housing architect for Habitat For Humanity
   Chief Elf and Executive Vice President of Toy Innovation for Santa's Workshop
2. Pediatric neurosurgeon with Doctors Without Borders
   Chief of Staff to the UN High Representative in Bosnia during the war in Kosovo

PM Pedro Sánchez is nothing if not on a roll. After earning degrees from several venerable European learning institutions, he worked variously for the UN and the European Parliament. After stints as a mayor and a party leader, he became PM after the other major political party suffered a major scandal. He has opposed the separatist movement in Catalonia his whole career.

1. His time in the military
   His success in sports
2. His unwavering support of the United States
   His love of cheese

President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed's nickname is Farmajo, a corruption of "formaggio," the Italian word for cheese, which he famously loves. Why Italian? Somalia was once an Italian colony and has vestiges of Italian language of culture present. On the subject of Somalia, according to "Trading Economics" rating of corrupt nations, Somalia rates number 180 out of 180 corrupt nations, the US being number 22 and Russia being number 138.

1. He has double-jointed shoulders and can escape from a straight jacket.
   He teaches civics in a Dutch secondary school once a week.
2. At the White House, he contradicted President Trump to his face when Trump claimed failing to agree on tariffs with the EU would be a good thing.
   He claims he uses a Nokia phone for texting because his thumbs are too large for a smartphone interface.

The Netherlands is an unusual place with an unusual government. PM Mark Rutte is unmarried, which is uncommon among most world leaders, and he does, in fact, like to teach one day a week, uses an old fashioned Nokia with buttons, and has interrupted President Trump to contradict him.

1. She is the PM of Iceland.
   He is the PM of Greenland.
2. She is the President of Sweden.
   He is the President of New Zealand.

Despite having a relationship with Denmark similar to the relationship between the UK and Bermuda, Greenland is its own country with its own parliament. The PM of Greenland, Kim Kielsen, is perhaps best known for mocking the recent American bid to purchase Greenland from Denmark, which does not own it.

1. Giuseppe Conte
   Emmanuel Macron
2. Emomali Rahmon
   Shinzō Abe

PM Giuseppe Conte's anti-establishment party, the Five Star Movement, came about as a reaction to the rampantly corrupt and feckless Italian governments of the past. Founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, this populist movement's name is derived from five key, related issues: environmentalism, sustainable transportation, sustainable development, public water, and a right to internet access.

1. He wrote Nickelback's 2002 hit "How You Remind Me."
   He said that Amitabh Bachchan's performance in "Aankhen" was "lackluster."
2. He used the soup spoon to stir his tea at a state dinner with Tony Blair.
   He encouraged the 2002 riots in Gujarat that killed a thousand people.

PM Narendra Modi is a hard-line Hindu nationalist whose activities in reaction to the 2002 attack on a train of Hindus in Gujarat by Muslims are believed to have resulted in the riots that killed about a thousand people, mostly Muslims. PM Modi was married at 13 through an arranged marriage but did not live with his wife until they were 18, and soon, the future PM abandoned the marriage.

1. Riek Machar
   Ali Osman Taha
2. John Garang
   No one

President Mayardit is the first President of South Sudan, and has been in office since 2011. He was an important figure in the Sudanese Civil War that resulted in the country splitting in two.

1. Comparative Religion
   Electrical Engineering
2. English Literature
   Communication Studies

When PM Ardern refused to name the mass shooter in Christchurch, she was likely drawing upon her expert knowledge of communications, as a major in Communication Studies while at university. Having worked her way through the political ranks, she was once an aide to the second female PM in the history of New Zealand.

1. Shinzō Abe
   Malcolm Turnbull
2. Emmanuel Macron
   Gotabaya Rajapaksa

Japanese PM Shinzō Abe's father, Shintaro Abe, volunteered to be a "kamikaze" pilot during the Second World War, but the war ended before Shintaro was ready to fly. Shinzō Abe's ancestors have a fascinating past spanning both high and low points in Japanese history, including his great-great-grandfather General Ōshima Yoshimasa, whose family had been samurai before the Meiji Restoration.

1. Mette Frederiksen
   Boris Johnson
2. Paula-Mae Weekes
   Emmanuel Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron came into politics as a technocratic outsider, interested in enacting policy, not politics. In his early 40s, good looking and wealthy, Macron is married to his former schoolteacher, Brigitte Macron, whom he met when she was married to her ex-husband and had three children.

1. Emomali Rahmon
   Mette Frederiksen
2. Paula-Mae Weekes
   Rodrigo Duterte

President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines has been in politics for a very long time, having served 22 years as a mayor before running for president. One reason for his popularity is his hard-line approach to crime in general, and drug-related crimes in particular, advocating for extra-judicial vigilante killings of drug dealers and users, motivating Time Magazine to dub him "The Punisher," a nickname he loves.

1. Paula-Mae Weekes
   Ashraf Ghani
2. Sauli Niinistö
   Nguyễn Phú Trọng

President Nguyễn Phú Trọng of Vietnam was educated in philology in Vietnam before earning the Soviet equivalent of a doctorate in political science, in Russia. Being a rigorously trained academic, it is no surprise that his start in politics was a political theorist for the Communist Party of Vietnam.

1. The Lamp Party
   The Candle Party
2. The Reform Party
   The Crescent Party

Moroccan PM Saadeddine Othmani has positioned himself as a reformer, saying he wants to model his Lamp Party on the Christian Democratic Union party in Germany, of which PM Merkel is a member. In a very cool turn of history, he earned his degree in Casablanca.

1. Malcolm Turnbull
   Boris Johnson
2. Mette Frederiksen
   Nana Akufo-Addo

Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull is best known for his recent party squabbles in the 2018 leadership spill, but once upon a time, he was a lawyer for the publisher of "Spycatcher," a book by former MI-5 counterintelligence officer Peter Wright. The book, which contains passages about the hunt for KGB agents within the British government, resulted in a lawsuit against the publisher by MI-5. Turnbull argued effectively for the publisher.

1. He is the tallest head of state in Africa.
   He is the most brutal dictator in Africa.
2. He was a famous singer before entering politics.
   He is the seventh richest President in Africa

Idriss Déby is estimated to be worth $50 million. In 2006, Forbes Magazine named Chad the most at the "top" of the world's "most corrupt nations," citing how World Bank funds intended to build a pipeline to feed the starving people of Chad were diverted to support Déby's regime.

1. Sauli Niinistö
   Volodymyr Zelensky
2. Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi
   Boris Johnson

Separated by a paltry four years, British PM, Boris Johnson, was a student at Eton College, which means he would have been a student there at the same time as a young Hugh Grant. Eton College has produced 24 British Prime Ministers.

1. Snake wrangler
   Professional wrestler
2. Pearl diver
   Cattleman

President Khaltmaagiin Battulga's father was a famous wrestling coach, and Khaltmaagiin followed in his footsteps, allowing him to see the world and learn Sambo and Judo. While abroad, he founded a successful international trading business he named Genco, after the first consigliere of the Corleone family in "The Godfather."

1. Mette Frederiksen
   Sauli Niinistö
2. Ashraf Ghani
   Nana Akufo-Addo

A strong environmentalist, the youngest Prime Minister of Denmark, engaged to a celebrated film director and veteran of a public spat with President Trump over his desire to buy Greenland, Mette Frederiksen seems like the sort of figure who would be embraced by a certain section of American politics. Of course, having immigration policies that are functionally the same as those of President Trump would not win her any permanent friends in her natural political niche in the U.S.

1. President of Belarus
   King of Belarus
2. Grand Commander of Belarus
   Dictator of Belarus

When someone is president long enough, one has to suspect something is wrong. President Alexander Lukashenko has been President of Belarus since 1994. In 1996, when he was going to be impeached for violating the constitution, he had it amended by referendum. When he reached his term limit, he held a referendum to eliminate them. Lukashenko, who has dim views of gays and Jews, has been given awards by Russia, Venezuela, Cuba and Libya.

1. Nana Akufo-Addo
   Volodymyr Zelensky
2. Sauli Niinistö
   Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi

President Sauli Niinistö of Finland made several attempts at winning the Presidency of Finland before succeeding, making him the first conservative to do so since the 1950s. In the interim, from the end of 2009 until his inauguration as President, he was the President of the Finnish Football Association.

1. Changing his political party affiliation
   Coddling the firearms industry
2. Filing for divorce
   Loving a gay son

President Bolsonaro has proven himself a capable man. He has shown he is, despite describing himself as a religious Catholic, divorcing repeatedly. He has proven himself a strong backer of the Brazilian firearms industry, which includes popular handgun maker Taurus. He has changed his political party several times. He draws the line, he says, at loving a gay son of his own.

1. He is the only top-ranking military leader in the world to have zero military training or experience.
   He lifted the ban on women wearing trousers, earrings and platform shoes to attract feminists to North Korea.
2. He named curling the official sport of North Korea.
   He killed Deputy Defense Minister Kim Chol by exploding him with a mortar. His crime? Failing to sufficiently mourn the death of Kim Jong-Il.

Kim Jong-Un is as mysterious and unpredictable as he is predictably mysterious. Stories about his eccentric behavior abound, some verifiable, some less so. One story run by "The Daily Mail" reads like an "Onion" story: Kim Jong-Un was alleged to have plastic surgery to make him look more like his grandfather.

1. The Catholic University of Chile
   Harvard University
2. Oxford University
   Trump University

An undergraduate alumnus of the Catholic University of Chile, President Sebastián Piñera earned a doctorate in economics from Harvard University. His upbringing was distinctly global, spending much of his childhood in the US and Belgium, following the career of his father, a civil servant.

1. Nana Akufo-Addo
   Ashraf Ghani
2. Volodymyr Zelensky
   Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi

President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana is the product of a powerful family with deep roots in politics in Ghana, one that paid for him to attend high school in the UK, at Lancing College, a boarding school in Sussex. Following graduation, he attended New College at Oxford briefly before several other universities, ultimately getting his law credentials through The Inns of Court in London.

1. 2009
   2011
2. 2002
   2015

Michael Higgins, who was elected as the ninth President of Ireland in 2011, has been involved in politics since the early 1980s and was a Labour Party leader before his presidency. President Higgins has thus far used his time in office to address the old wounds in society, promoting social justice.