Why do bullies have so many friends?

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See, there's pathological bullies who devote much of their time and energy to messing with 'easy targets.' Then there's the kids who every once in a while mess with 'easy targets' as something of an amusing diversion but don't put nearly so much time and energy into it, and there isn't really a complicated psychological explanation for it other than that they have higher status than you and they derive pleasure from abusing that higher status at your expense. I think the second type are more common.

It's not friendship, its fear of social rejection.

As the posters above me say, they feel less likely to be targeted by taking the bullies side.

But if you can show people that you're brave and willing to stand up for yourself, people will start siding with you.

As a general rule in the social ladder:

Self respecting person > Bully > A push over

Self respecting people are at the top of the ladder.

fear

When I was in my late teens and early twenites I belived in keeping friends close and my enemies (bullies) closer. That way I would better know what they were up to and I could warn others. That would make me a bullie to the bullie. Then they would want to keep me close... It was kind of funny at the time.

So, those who didn't know me, it would have looked like I was a bullies friend..
I have known others who did the same.

They can be charming, and generous too. Bullies I have known, buy friends with a generosity of spirit, and invite followers to dinner.....Then once your hooked into their charm, they then feel satiated, and diss enemies to you in the hope you will side with them. Aspies dont fall for their charm (shtick), or hate the bullies enemies, and this upsets them.

As George Bush once said after 9/11:

*********if you are not with us, you are against us********************

Smiling is showing teeth, and in the animal kingdom, when a mouth opens, or a tail goes up, it means, look at my teeth, look at my size....... be wary of me

We see it here on WP sometimes, so aspies can be bullies too.

The world is full of gangs. We are the aspie gang. Dont f**k with us or else ( i will throw my toys at you )

That's true, in my case when I was in college, a former bully apologized and said he felt awful about how he treated me back in elementary school. I realized that this person only participated in the bullying out of fear of becoming a target of bullying. As a result, I was able to forgive that person.

People admire strength and mistake cruelty for strength. Bullies are perceived as powerful and people want to be their friends. Also, it's one of those self-perpetuating NT lemming situations--bullies become popular because some people see them as strong, then other other people emulate the first circle of bully admirers.