Elon Musk and Donald Trumps falling out has been entertaining to watch over the past couple of weeks, if in a vaguely Nero fiddling while Rome burns way. But that spectacle has also drawn focus from what it really means for Musk to be leaving his role at the White House. That, in itself, could have disastrous consequences, and it highlights the difficulty of keeping track of everything crucial that this administration does.Musk was brought in as a special government employee to run the Trump administrations Department of Government Efficiency (despite claims that he definitely wasnt in charge). Because of rules surrounding special government employees, that meant Musk could only be in that position for 130 days. At the end of his tenure, Musk quietly pushed to be kept on, but Trump (a notorious follower of rules) said that couldnt happen. Related Trans people need allies even imperfect ones if were going to survive this administration Imperfect alliances are our essential harm reduction in this administration We can only speculate about what else the two narcissists clashed about behind the scenes, but this decision seems to have set off the massive public feud between the two. But without any other reasons, it seems like Trump letting Musk go might have been a strategic choice to allow DOGE to act in a different, more dangerous way moving forward. Dive deeper every day Join our newsletter for thought-provoking commentary that goes beyond the surface of LGBTQ+ issues Subscribe to our Newsletter today While Musk is leaving, DOGE is actually set to operate until the summer of 2026, per one of Trumps early executive orders. That might come as a surprise to some, as Musk seemed to embody DOGE for so long and as its figurehead, the two became almost a single entity. But Musks bombast in the role served as a distraction, pulling attention from other moves the Trump administration was making, and now Musks departure is a whole new distraction.Under Musk, DOGE was a showboat, where Musk wielded a chainsaw around the federal government both figuratively and literally. His cuts were loud and extreme, with headlines highlighting massive numbers of federal employees being fired, USAID being cut off at the knees, and funding for research being pulled for anything that included a buzzword.Those cuts were all terrible, but they were also executed badly. Musk advertised himself with a chainsaw, not a scalpel, so its no surprise that his cuts were anything but surgical. Weve repeatedly seen the government scramble to rehire federal workers who oversaw key safety and security measures after careless cuts, and judges have ruled that cuts have to be reversed. The pushback against DOGE has been made easier to direct because Musk is such an easy target for hate and headlines. But the new version of DOGE that is emerging after Musks ungracious exit looks like it will learn from that mistake. The Trump administration is saying there will be no single head of DOGE going forward. Russ Vought, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, will take on some of the work. But its also been suggested that a disparate council of advisers will oversee the department, rather than there being a single person at the top.While DOGE employees had previously reported to Musk and DOGE itself, that structure is being reworked in a way that will allow for more shadowy cuts. DOGE employees who are in different government departments will now report to Cabinet secretaries. Thats a good thing, in that it means cuts are less likely to be made to an area without proper consideration of actual needs: Cabinet secretaries are going to be on the lookout for that. But while the cuts might be more constructive, we have to remember what these people are trying to construct. Rather than DOGE making chaotic cuts and making a mess that judges will demand be reversed, more considered cuts can be made by secretaries who can then scapegoat DOGE employees to avoid any backlash on themselves.With news that the Trump administration is rushing to hire back past employees on a large scale after Musks exit, theres room to think that we might be returning to where we were before. But its not that simple. Many of those employees are no longer available or are unwilling to return to work. DOGEs past actions are going to leave massive wounds that wont heal. Similarly, research funding has been pulled for projects that have had to wrap up their entire operations: theres no talk of restoring that funding, and those projects couldnt simply be restarted if there were. Its always hard to work out what actions from the Trump administration are carefully planned strategies and how much are happy accidents for them. Either way, having a celebrity figurehead was good for getting DOGE moving, but the hatred of Musk was bringing a lot of attention to their actions and crystallizing a movement against the department. With him gone, were looking at a new DOGE that can act in the shadows unchecked without the same risk of attracting as much media attention.Musks departure and the childish fight with Trump have been a distraction from the damage that DOGE can do without him, but that is one of the major challenges that the administration poses to resistance: everything and anything can feel like a distraction. Terrible and harmful policies that need our attention still act as distractions from other catastrophic ones.We cant individually keep an eye on every part of the machine, and when we miss something, we feel like failures. The past two weeks alone have seen Musk leave DOGE, Trump march the National Guard and Marines on relatively small peaceful protests in LA against the wishes of the mayor and governor, and a military parade hosted for Trumps birthday as a show of power (even if he said it was a coincidence and the result was just sad). But we have to try, and we need the media to push to acknowledge the many facets of authoritarianism that are taking place, and not simply the latest and flashiest circus.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.