After seven weeks of ripping through federal agencies like a wrecking ball, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) had its chain shortened on Thursday, when President Donald Trump clarified in a full cabinet meeting that DOGE’s role — as well as that of its chief, Elon Musk — is merely advisory. “According to two administration officials,” gossiped Politico, “Trump told top members of his administration that Musk was empowered to make recommendations to the departments but not to issue unilateral decisions on staffing and policy. Musk was also in the room.”

Trump confirmed the news soon afterward on social media. “DOGE has been an incredible success, and now that we have my Cabinet in place, I have instructed the Secretaries and Leadership to work with DOGE on Cost Cutting measures and Staffing,” he wrote. “As the Secretaries learn about, and understand, the people working for the various Departments, they can be very precise as to who will remain, and who will go.”

“We say the ‘scalpel’ rather than the ‘hatchet,’” Trump added. “The combination of them, Elon, DOGE, and other great people will be able to do things at a historic level.” Apparently, Trump has concluded that excising waste, fraud, and abuse from government is more like surgery than like wilderness trailblazing.

Musk reposted Trump’s message on X (formerly Twitter), remarking briefly that it was a “very productive meeting.” Musk reportedly spoke at the cabinet meeting, admitting that DOGE had made some missteps.

Most notorious among these missteps were Musk’s emails ordering all federal employees to list what they had done in the past week or face termination, which many Cabinet secretaries countermanded. At the Department of Energy, DOGE fired hundreds of workers responsible for maintaining America’s nuclear weapons, then immediately attempted to rehire them. At the Department of Agriculture, DOGE fired, then scrambled to rehire, employees involved in responding to the bird flu epidemic.

DOGE’s activities to cut programs and staff have sown an ever-thickening minefield of legal challenges, which threaten to bog down or reverse the beneficial elements of DOGE’s shakeup. These lawsuits have raised legitimate constitutional questions about the scope of DOGE’s authority, particularly since the Senate never confirmed Elon Musk in any authoritative office — questions the government has struggled to answer satisfactorily.

At the same time, Trump clarified that his decision to limit DOGE’s power did not imply a waning of his resolve to limit government. Instead, it was an attempt to throw out the bathwater but keep the baby.

“It’s very important that we cut levels down to where they should be, but it’s also important to keep the best and most productive people,” he explained.

Nor did Trump intend to jettison Musk from his influential position. “If they [the Cabinet secretaries] can cut, it’s better. And if they don’t cut, then Elon will do the cutting,” he added.

Instead, Trump communicated that he was reorganizing members of a unified team, which will continue to work together going forward. “We’re going to have these meetings every two weeks until that aspect of this very necessary job is done,” he said. “The relationships between everybody in that room are extraordinary. They all want to get to the exact same place, which is, simply to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”