One of President Donald Trump’s special gifts is his ability to humiliate his underlings. He has called Attorney General Jeff Sessions “an idiot” to his face, and convened his cabinet so its members could sing Dear Leader’s praises in front of the press. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s bizarre press conference on Wednesday, called for the sole purpose of denying reports of a severe rift with the president, is the latest example of the indignity of working for Trump.

It’s undeniable that Trump and Tillerson are at odds over the most serious issues facing American foreign policy. As befits his position, Tillerson has tried to act as a diplomat, negotiating with North Korea, Qatar, and Iran. But time and again, Trump has undercut Tillerson’s position, most notably by tweeting earlier this month about negotiations with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un:

...Save your energy Rex, we'll do what has to be done! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2017

According to The New York Times, the dispute earlier this year between Qatar and the other Gulf states was an even bigger issue. “The episode that Mr. Tillerson called a real breaking point, according to associates, came when he was trying to mediate a dispute between the Persian Gulf state of Qatar and its Arab neighbors,” the Times reported Wednesday. “The secretary had long told colleagues that relationships he built over decades in business made him uniquely qualified to broker a deal.... When Mr. Tillerson publicly called for a ‘calm and thoughtful dialogue,’ the president less than an hour later lashed out at Qatar as a financier of terrorism.”

That was in June. By July, according to an NBC News report on Wednesday, Tillerson “was on the verge of resigning” and had “openly disparaged the president, referring to him as a ‘moron,’ after a July 20 meeting at the Pentagon with members of Trump’s national security team and Cabinet officials.” At his press conference later on Wednesday, Tillerson refused to deny this report, saying instead, “I’m not going to deal with petty stuff like that.” In a subsequent briefing, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert denied the “moron” comment on Tillerson’s behalf.

In his press conference, Tillerson reiterated his loyalty to Trump and desire to serve as long as the president desired. But as debasing as Tillerson’s performance was, it might not be enough. The Washington Post reports that Tillerson remains on a “death spiral” because “the already tense relationship between the two headstrong men—one a billionaire former real estate developer, the other a former captain of the global oil industry—has ruptured into what some White House officials call an irreparable breach that will inevitably lead to Tillerson’s departure, whether immediately or not.”