Isn't it exactly a thing in which Java failed about a decade ago? Apps running in a VM using GUI toolkit instead of DOM, delivered right into your browser window? What could be better? Well it's proved to be a total failure on the web.

Oh, agreed. But that's the idea that's being pitched.

You can't "do away with the DOM altogether". You need to have some method of interacting with the browser; location, AJAX requests, cookies, etc.

Porting a GUI toolkit only relieves your need to deal with CSS, it does not alleviate you of all need for the DOM.

You're splitting hairs. In practice, if all you're dealing with from the DOM is one canvas element and a URL that's static, you've pretty much "done away" with the DOM.

That's not true at all. You need some way of interacting with a back end (as well as the browser.) Whether that's via forms or AJAX requests, you need more from the DOM. The DOM is not just a GUI toolkit.

I am not splitting hairs, you are glossing over serious limitations to this approach.