>>150193497
Because decepticons are kratocracy where leadership is often governed by whoever took out the last guy. Starscream is in his position because as other anons have said he is an effective warrior and schemer. Starscream is not the only guy in Megatron's inner circle gunning to become leader and Soundwave is an expliciet exception because he thrives in being the lead intelligence officer and the power that leverages, almost every other Decepticon is biding their time to usurp Megatron. But the way these hirearchys work is that you must look out for people above you who might try to step on you but also look out for those below you who might try to take you out to climb the ranks. Starscream has a lot of bots below him and these bots have consistently shown throughout the series to fucking hate him. Starscream has to keep his own seeker squad under control with half a dozen other Decepticons lining up at the first chance to kill him. If Starscream wasn't in his position, Megatron would have to worry about all of them too as he is top of the pyramid. Starscream is usefull and ironically helps create social security for Megatron.
He is nessasary, not liked or really tolerated, but he is nessasary.
