Story highlights Miller and Sokolsky: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson clearly doesn't plan to resign

But he faces a difficult road ahead, as the President continues to undermine his authority and legitimacy, write Miller and Sokolsky

Aaron David Miller is a vice president and distinguished scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and author of "The End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President." Miller was a Middle East negotiator in Democratic and Republican administrations. Follow him @aarondmiller2. Richard Sokolsky is a non-resident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2005-2015, he served as a member of the Secretary of State's Office of Policy Planning. The views expressed in this commentary are their own.

(CNN) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made a remarkable statement on Wednesday, rejecting reports he had considered resigning and reaffirming his commitment to the President's domestic and foreign policies. This was both stunning and unprecedented. It was not quite a hostage video, but it seemed awkward that a secretary of state felt compelled to defend himself in response to a press report.

Indeed, Tillerson has good instincts on many foreign policy issues and is ready to provide independent advice. But his road ahead won't be easy, particularly given that Donald Trump is ready and willing to undercut him.

Still, Tillerson clearly doesn't plan to resign, despite an NBC report that he referred to the President as a " moron " -- a claim his spokeswoman denies. And even if he did, it might not matter much who succeeded him. Unless the bureaucratic environment in Trumpland changes, his successor will likely confront the same challenges Tillerson is facing now.

So, what are these challenges?

First, our decades of experience in the Department of State allow us to report that the dynamic playing out now between the President and Tillerson has not existed before in modern US foreign policy history. Granted, Tillerson has not helped himself. He was not necessarily the President's first choice, lacks Washington experience, has an aversion to the media and has some misplaced priorities in how he has tried to reform the State Department.

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