Is the real problem we face restoring the civility of our public discourse or the credibility of our public institutions? 

In the wake of the attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, and the rapid ascendancy of Vice President Kamala Harris, pundits are calling for a kinder, gentler election season. 

There is no doubt the coarseness of public conversation can and should be cleaned up. But it’s nothing new, stretching back centuries. It will also now be a convenient focus for pundits who will use the “turn down the rhetoric” narrative to beat Republicans over the head for every verbal attack on the vice president.

And it’s clear former President Trump isn’t interested in becoming Mister Rogers 2.0

There will not be a sudden rhetorical disarmament. 

Civility is not really the central problem in American politics. The real crisis is in the cratered credibility of our institutions.

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During the past decade, leaders in several foundational institutions in our society have embraced the idea the pursuit of their political ends justifies any and all tactics. This includes corrupt actors in law enforcement, prosecutors, universities and executive agencies overseeing public health and tax policy — including some here in Colorado.  

The frenzied use of immense power has created a sense that if you’re among the favored, you are treated with kid gloves. And if you are among those they consider ideologically or politically unwashed, the scales are tipped against you. 

When bedrock institutions in society are viewed as biased, unfair and imbued with situational ethics, a rift is open that no political convention speech is going to heal. 

Here are some examples:

• Don’t leave home during COVID and stay social distanced — unless you were going to a progressive Black Lives Matter protest.  
• Fight so-called “hate speech” from conservatives on college campuses — but be unwilling to label it such when anti-Semites violently threaten Jewish students. 
• Shout government should stay out of family health decisions when it’s about abortion — but use the full power of the state against parents who wish to intervene in the sex transition of their 13-year-old.
• Spend years using an obscure Colorado commission to seek to ruin a Christian baker because the state doesn’t like his religious beliefs. 
• Sic the IRS on political opponents.
• Distract the military off its war fighting mission to learn how to be woke.
• Unleash personal attacks on U.S. Supreme Court justices you disagree with.

The list is long. 

Most notorious, of course, are the misdeeds of a sliver of the law enforcement community that invented and used a fake Russian dossier against Trump —  which began a march to a cooked-up impeachment. There have also been some prosecutions that would never have been brought, and convictions never secured, if his name wasn’t Trump

The systematic destruction of institutional credibility has brought us to where entire agencies are tainted — unfairly staining the vast majority of hardworking honest and highly competent professionals who have zero political agenda.

Here’s the whirlwind they have reaped. What, as of now, appears to be a galactically incompetent security breach that got Trump shot in the face was quickly called by some an “inside job” — the culmination of all the other efforts to “get Trump.”  

This was compounded by the silly public response by the Secret Service director that highly trained snipers aren’t safe on a sloped roof. 

And as FBI professionals investigate, past misdeeds by a few in the agency targeting Trump mean that its essential ability to reassure Americans that this was the action of a lone lunatic will be hampered. 

Lesson one in public communications is control of the narrative backed by dispassionate, verifiable facts — and deep accountability — is the key to maintaining credibility. 

America cannot be a nation where the levers of power, including the ability to prosecute and jail adversaries, are used to target and silence the politically disfavored — of any political stripe. Our institutions cannot be just another collection of political hacks.

The slow restoration of institutional credibility must be a priority for the 47th president. 

Kamala Harris condoned, smiled upon and sought political benefit from many of these deceitful efforts. Which is why, among many reasons, she must not ever occupy the Oval Office. 

Sean Duffy, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Bill Owens, is a communications and media relations strategist and ghostwriter based in the Denver area.