WATCH: Whoopi Goldberg smacks down suggestion that Trump could be a 'savior for black folk'

On CNN’s “The Messy Truth” Wednesday, host Van Jones asked guest Whoopi Goldberg about race relationships under a President Donald Trump.

Jones referred specifically to Trump’s inaugural address, wherein the president insisted, “the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential.”

“This American carnage stops right here and stops right now,” Trump added during his speech.

Jones also pointed to Trump’s Tuesday night tweet promising to “send in the feds” if “Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on.”

“Here’s the ‘Messy Truth,’” Jones began. “There is a lot of violence, there are a lot of funerals and I don’t think that when you look back at the Obama presidency there was that urgency about the inner-city violence.”

Jones asked Goldberg if she was “happy that Trump is going to do something” about inner-city violence.

“If he really wanted to do something, we’d have a lot more discussions about how we deal with this crime, with this gun issue,” Goldberg replied, to applause.

“He’s starting the conversation by saying I’m going to put martial law in your state, that’s not the way you start a conversation with people,” she added. “At some point, we’re going to have to discuss gun violence and what to do.”

In the interest of “[opening] our mind a little bit,” Jones pressed Goldberg on Trump’s pledge to combat inner-city violence:

“This guy is the President of the United States. He wants to put the issue on the table. Couldn’t this guy end up being the savior for black folk?”

“I don’t know if black folk need a savior,” Goldberg shot back. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware.”

Goldberg argued Republicans targeted Barack Obama during his presidency, insisting the former president “did what he could do” for black people. She said if Obama had implemented policies specifically directed at black Americans, “people would be out of their minds.”

“I don’t mind if [Trump] wants to go in there and help,” Goldberg said. “I do mind that when you start this conversation by saying we’re bringing in the feds, that to me is an issue.”

Watch the video below, via CNN: