There are only two ways to play the situation if you are up against a genuine bully, not someone with an occasional bad temper. You can play to cut out of the game, or you can play to win it.

A real bully lacks his own power, and thinks to acquire some by upsetting others. It's the only strength he has at all -- borrowed on the sly from others by needling and dominating. He can be ignored in some circumstances, because dropping the whole think flat, completely cutting the connection, is an effective option.

But there are other times and places where this is not possible and the only remedy there is is to exert more force on the individual from his environment, than his psychotic impulses are exerting on him to be destructive from within-- in other words make it preferable for him to keep his psycho crap inside by leaning on him harder than it does. This may entail lifting him up by the collar and explaining matters calmly with a large stick, or perhaps a confrontation with a dozen angry targets no longer willing to put up with it, or a complete caterwauling physical slam with large boots, depending on circumstance. The typical behavior I have seen is that once a victim stands up and refuses any more, the bully pulls it in and looks elsewhere for easy prey, or even corrects his ways. It's never simple, I understand. But the principle seems to be the same in many cases.

A