I don't think so. He's done this before, so sort of knew the ropes, and knew he screwed up by working through a minor political party. He's been asked about running for decades. If this was a lark, why use the GOP/RNC machine?
He has also consistently talked about the incompetence and corruption in politics.
He was in it to win it, this time.
I think he's surprised by many things on the way, including the sudden drop out of Cruz, who had appeared to be determined to stay in until the convention.
Sure, I've got $35-40MM to throw around on a lark. Why not?
Cruz was in it to stay the course. His plan was to try and unseat as many Trump-won state delegations as possible. The RNC convention would have been a showdown of lawyers working with the rules committee. It’ likely the police would have been escorting outraged Trump delegates out of Cleveland.
Cruz quit because of his father. The photographic evidence and newspaper clippings on Rafael were leaked April 22. Cruz has never denied that he’s the man photographed or that he was engaged in those activities. Those connections are intertwined with his dad’s flight to Canada, his parents becoming Canadians and his birth as a NBC of Canada.
No jus solis! No jus sanguis!
Research on the Canadian voting process through 1984 indicates unequivocally that both parents had Canadian citizenship and were eligible to vote while Ted was living in Canada.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/anna-tomerlin/rafael-edward-ted-cruz-family-timeline/998233746879858