I can create Publisher documents, but I can not open / read them.

[Jim N]

I used Publisher with no issue for many years. Now, I can create documents, But, I can't open or read documents.
When I try to open a Publisher document, I get an error message that says that the program failed to start correctly last time. It then asks me to open the program in safe mode. When I try to open in safe mode, that fails.
It then asks if I want to launch repair. I run the repair and a restart of the computer.
However, nothing is fixed. I still get the same error message that the program failed to start correctly last time.