Editing Uncle Duke (section)

===1980s===

Shortly after his departure from the Redskins, Duke was hired as a lobbyist for the [[National Rifle Association]], owing to his borderline [[paraphilia|paraphilic]] love for [[firearm]]s and [[gun violence]]. His role consisted chiefly of threatening members of Congress with write-in campaigns. He was next hired by oil executive Jim Andrews to parachute into [[Iran]] and bribe a government accountant for [[Mineral rights|oil rights]]. The mission went disastrously wrong and Duke accidentally triggered the real-life [[Iran hostage crisis]].

Upon his return to the US, Duke made a living for a while as a former hostage on the lecture circuit, then went on the run again after accidentally shooting his caretaker [[Zeke Brenner]]. With Honey's help, Duke bought a fishing boat in Florida and began to smuggle drugs and illegal immigrants. This new career move was cut short by an ill-timed sightseeing cruise to the [[Falkland Islands]] to witness the [[Falklands War|war]]. After running the boat into a reef, Duke and Honey suffered a mutiny at the hands of their own cruise passengers, and ended up shipwrecked for months on what they believed to be a deserted island in the South Atlantic but turned out to be [[Matagorda Island]], a few miles off the coast of [[Texas]].

Upon returning to the mainland, Duke became entangled in Hollywood politics, encountering "superagent" [[List of Doonesbury characters#Main characters|Sid Kibbitz]]. Kibbitz represented Duke in negotiations for a [[John DeLorean]] biopic project entitled ''Fast Lanes, White Lines''. In order to secure funding for the film, Duke became a [[cocaine]] [[Illegal drug trade|dealer]] and was shortly thereafter arrested after trying to deal drugs with men who turned out to be [[Law enforcement agency|federal agents]].

While the strip was on hiatus from January 1983 to October 1984, the characters lived on in a [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] production entitled ''[[Doonesbury (musical)|Doonesbury: A Musical Comedy]]''. Duke was found guilty of drug-dealing, sentenced to five years' probation, and required by the court to open and manage a drug rehabilitation center for that period.  At the end of the musical, Duke's efforts to seize the Walden Commune so it could be razed and the land used for the rehab center were thwarted, and Trudeau has stated in interviews and on the official website FAQ that both Duke and Honey were forced to flee the country afterwards.

Back in the strip, Duke opened the ''Baby Doc College of Offshore Medicine'' in [[Haiti]], a grossly fraudulent [[medical school]] which was not above hosting a [[designer drug]] conference.  One morning, Duke was discovered by Honey looking "more inert than usual" and pronounced dead, prompting the ''[[Tampa Bay Times|St. Petersburg Times]]'' to run a full obituary in real life.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}  However, a few days after his funeral, it was discovered that Duke had been [[zombie|zombified]], dug out and taken into slavery by the deposed tyrant [[Jean-Claude Duvalier|Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier]], who renamed him ''Légume'' ("vegetable"). After reporter [[List of Doonesbury characters#Main characters|Rick Redfern]] recognized him during an interview of Duvalier, Zonker Harris bought "Légume"'s freedom using most of a recently acquired lottery fortune. Duke remained hairless for several years following his zombie period.

Back on his feet, Duke founded the ''Dr. Whoopee'' [[condom]] company to cash in on [[HIV/AIDS|AIDS]]-induced panic, but lost control of it following a bad financial deal with [[John Gotti]]. After being briefly committed, he resurfaced as captain of [[Donald Trump]]'s executive cruise ship, the ''[[Trump Princess]]''. During Duke's captaincy, Honey returned to [[Beijing]] for a college reunion, which led to her inadvertent involvement in the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]]. Seeking refuge in the U.S. embassy after being named one of China's "25 most-wanted hooligans", Honey attracted the attention of Trump, who offered a million-dollar reward for her recovery as a "symbol of freedom".  Financial inducement succeeding where personal loyalty failed, Duke smuggled Honey out of China by marrying her, causing her delusions about their relationship to reach new levels. They divorced soon after.

At the decade's end, Duke was tapped by President [[George H. W. Bush]] to serve as Maximum Proconsul in post-invasion [[Panama]].