President-elect Donald Trump's top strategist sat for a rare radio interview Friday morning, urging conservative voters to 'hold people accountable' in the White House – including himself – as the new administration gets off the ground.

Steve Bannon, Trump's senior counselor – soon to be right-wing Americans' avatar in the West Wing – said afterward that he specifically wants Trump's base to hold his feet to the fire as he steers the president's strategic ship through waters infested with Democrats and moderate Republicans alike.

'Deplorables and Hobbits should stay engaged and hold ALL of us accountable – including me,' Bannon told DailyMail.com in a text message.

Steve Bannon, senior counselor to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, said Friday that he wants Trump's conservative base to hold the administration's feet – including his own – to the fire and keep them accountable to the political revolution that swept America in 2016

Bannon faces a tough task steering Trump's strategic ship through waters infested with Democrats and moderate Republicans alike

In a brief Breitbart News Radio interview, he had encouraged the colorfully nicknamed voters who propelled the Trump revolution forward to recognize that 'this whole movement is really in the top of the first inning.'

Breitbart's daily radio program airs on the same SiriusXM 'Patriot' channel as firebrands Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. It's the broadcast arm of Breitbart News, where Bannon was executive chairman until he jumped ship to join Trumpworld in the fall.

Bannon joked about a 2011 episode that saw Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain mocking tea party enthusiasts as 'Hobbits' engaged in a make-believe good versus evil struggle for Middle Earth as they pressured lawmakers to hold the line on raising the nation's debt ceiling.

Referring to radio listeners and readers who vent their anger in the Breitbart.com comments section, Bannon said that 'it was always great to hear what the Hobbits had to say, because at the end of the day what they had to say was what mattered most.'

It's that group, which later wore Hillary Clinton's 'baskets of deplorables' insult as a badge of honor, whose belly-fire he tried to stoke on Friday.

'The key is to hold people accountable. You know – the "Hobbits," or the "deplorables," had a great run in '16. Everybody mocked them and ridiculed them, and now they've spoken,' he said.

Some centrists flexed their muscles as Trump built his cabinet, pushing behind the scenes for appointments tied more to business acumen than ideology.

Deplorables and Hobbits should stay engaged and hold ALL of us accountable – including me Steve Bannon to DailyMail.com, via text message

Conservatives noticed, and Bannon said he was paying attention.

'I noticed on Breitbart over the last month or two, as either certain appointments were made or certain things were done that didn't comport with behavior that the "deplorables" or the "Hobbits" thought were correct, it was interesting to see some of the articles written on the site, and the intensity, and the comments.'

'I think that's great,' Bannon said. 'I think people are engaged. They feel like they have a voice.'

'And just continue on,' he told them.

The White House will soon be Chez Trump as the presidential inauguration is just three weeks away

Bannon suggested Friday that he's aware of the political stakes and hasn't let go of his contrarian media roots.

'Weve lived through an historic time,' he said of the anything-goes 2016 election. 'I think we'll talk about what happened in this year politically for many, many decades to come.'