if you want to get rid of all the "DOMText elements containing ONLY whitespace", maybe try

<?php

function loadHTML_noemptywhitespace(string $html, int $extra_flags = 0, int $exclude_flags = 0): DOMDocument
{
    $flags = LIBXML_HTML_NODEFDTD | LIBXML_NOBLANKS | LIBXML_NONET;
    $flags = ($flags | $extra_flags) & ~ $exclude_flags;

    $domd = new DOMDocument();
    $domd->preserveWhiteSpace = false;
    @$domd->loadHTML('<?xml encoding="UTF-8">' . $html, $flags);
    $removeAnnoyingWhitespaceTextNodes = function (\DOMNode $node) use (&$removeAnnoyingWhitespaceTextNodes): void {
        if ($node->hasChildNodes()) {
            // Warning: it's important to do it backwards; if you do it forwards, the index for DOMNodeList might become invalidated;
            // that's why i don't use foreach() - don't change it (unless you know what you're doing, ofc)
            for ($i = $node->childNodes->length - 1; $i >= 0; --$i) {
                $removeAnnoyingWhitespaceTextNodes($node->childNodes->item($i));
            }
        }
        if ($node->nodeType === XML_TEXT_NODE && !$node->hasChildNodes() && !$node->hasAttributes() && empty(trim($node->textContent))) {
            //echo "Removing annoying POS";
            // var_dump($node);
            $node->parentNode->removeChild($node);
        } //elseif ($node instanceof DOMText) { echo "not removed"; var_dump($node, $node->hasChildNodes(), $node->hasAttributes(), trim($node->textContent)); }
    };
    $removeAnnoyingWhitespaceTextNodes($domd);
    return $domd;
}