I thought perhaps the “Debater Perry” was because he had stage fright. So I thought I'd tune in and give him the benefit of the doubt.
He was the same or worse at his great “announcement”. There was no inspiration, excitement or enthusiasm in his announcement. It was like the folks in the audience had to be told to “clap”.
It's not Perry - it's his history, his message and personality that are turning people away from Perry.
Perry's live announcement of “Cut, Balance, and Grow” was, as you say, lacking any inspiration whatsoever. It wasn't just the audience who had to be told to clap — did you notice that Perry's hand/arm gestures were not authentic, like he had been told when to make a “forceful gesture” for effect? And at the end, when you would want him to receive a genuine enthusiastic standing ovation, the applause was forced and slow to come... And then some people stood up as if to leave, and others weren't sure what to do, so they stood up too, and it eventually turned into people standing while clapping, but it wasn't a standing ovation. The whole thing was just weird.
I read that his PAC has something like $58 million waiting in the wings to spend on advertising. That will buy a lot of votes with slick marketing. So I really do hope more people will watch the full announcement from the Live taping — so they can see the difference between the real deal and the slick marketing.