You nailed it. The author says, "We matured in the postwar era, as the international community created a multitude of protective institutions such as the United Nations."
As if Trump is bad compared to the UN. The United Nations is a corrupt institution of dictators and demagogues. She writes, " we collectively forgot that irrationality is a core human attribute." Such as not seeing the completely false, irrational and partisan interests on display at the UN etc. 
The boomer generation believe in their pie-in-the-sky fairy tales so completely that they are so easy to fool. Just hoist up a sign with the right slogans and they are sold. Behind that sign you can commit any atrocity at will just so long as you pay lip-service to the pie-in-the-sky.