I've witnessed a bunch of times in real life where a bully becomes popular through insecure people willingly submitting to (following & supporting) the bully to prevent from getting bullied themselves.
The worst case I ever witnessed of this was a time I took my son to baseball practice when he was about seven. It was in a small park. I was playing with my daughter in the playground and observed a group of kids (about 14 years old) interact. The biggest kid (height and weight) was the worst bully I've ever seen and he had a crew of four awkward minions with him doing whatever he wanted. There was also a girl at the playground the bully knew somehow. There was another awkward boy there too who clearly had an interest in the girl, but the bully and his minions proceeded to harass, torment and physically abuse the solo boy. The girl submitted to and sided with the bully, too, for what appeared to be her own self preservation.
The physical altercations amongst the kids became a danger to my daughter's safety, so I tried to shoo the kids out of the park, but the bully was so emboldened that he actually challenged me too. Rather than escalating the situation worse, I just removed my daughter from the area and continued to monitor the situation in case it got far enough where police involvement might be appropriate. Thankfully the kids left the park shortly thereafter and I was able to allow my daughter to play again.
