Power attracts people who want proximity to outcomes they did not earn.

Proximity to power is valuable in itself, which means it draws people whose interest is the nearness rather than the work. They are often pleasant, useful in small ways, and enthusiastic about you, and the flattery is sincere in a shallow sense because it is genuinely about wanting to be close.

Notice who around you was there before your position and who arrived after. Not as a loyalty test, only as information about what each relationship is built on.