Don't imply it's the "GOP machine" that's Ted's problem, he couldn't even outmaneuver that boat anchor Beck to a role that didn't undermine his campaign which proves Ted doesn't have any common sense or a feel for what anyone but his own inner circle care about nor does he give a damn what anyone outside his little circle thinks or feels other than how it can be quantified and merged into campaign jargon.
Ted figured his crack team of data mining psychologists could get over on the public and hide his total disdain for average folks not from the same Harvard Ivory Tower mindset he's from. Sooner or later that was going to become apparent when Ted couldn't even put two sentences together without repeating his anti-Trump or anti-Whoever meme of the day.
That's not natural or normal, it's an indication that someone believes they can manipulate the listener rather than make a connection with the listener. Ted isn't now nor has he ever been what he tries to present himself as or he'd have been sharp enough, even if he was only of average intellect, to realize his best bet was to go for being Trump's running mate and thereafter the automatic nominee in four or eight years. He's dedicated to being president before he's fifty is the only reason for him not to do that.
Whether that's due to his own twisted egotism and narcissism or due to his believing God wants him to do it is a question for folks to decide for themselves but it's one of the two. Given the current Narcissist in Chief having never completed a term in the Senate prior to running I'd bet on it being Ted wanting to be as "stellar" as Barry.