Listen: Steve Bannon cheers Trump plan to axe thousands of government employees

Conservative podcaster Steve Bannon cheered the news that former President Donald Trump has a plan to "deconstruct" government departments in his second term — stacking them with thousands of Trump appointees.

Axios reported over the weekend that Trump has a "radical plan" for his second term, which threatens the jobs of 50,000 government employees. The plan would involve "purging potentially thousands of civil servants and filling career posts with loyalists to him and his 'America First' ideology," and go beyond traditional government appointments to government agencies.

Bannon — recently convicted of defying a Congressional subpoena to testify to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks — seemed defiant and energized by aggressive plans for a potential Trump second term.

On Monday, Bannon and former Trump adviser Steve Cortes were gleeful that the plan had been revealed publicly.

"You have to deconstruct it," Bannon said of the government. "You have to take it apart brick by brick."

"It gets my deplorable blood going on a Monday morning to hear Jonathan Swan talk about a purge," Cortes exclaimed while Bannon laughed. "A purge of the administrative state. Of course, he means that to be an exposé, to be a hit on our movement. We took it exactly the opposite and wear it as a badge of honor."

"It tells me that, yes, Jonathan Swan recognizes that there is a plan in place," he continued, "that this second Trump term is going to be far more consequential than the first one."

"This is taking on and defeating and deconstructing the administrative state," Bannon said.

Bannon also claimed that he is planning a one-hour special to prepare "4,000 shock troops" to be ready to take over the government. Bannon has spoken about a plan to "deconstruct" the government before, including in an October interview with NBC News.

"If you’re going to take over the administrative state and deconstruct it, then you have to have shock troops prepared to take it over immediately," Bannon quipped to NBC News. "I gave 'em fire and brimstone."