Democrats can win states that supported President Donald Trump with common-sense gun-control proposals, said Montana Gov. Steve Bullock at the Iowa State Fair on Thursday.

The presidential hopeful, 53, said he believes the majority of gun owners like himself will support candidates who back measures such as universal background checks and removing guns where there's an order of protection.

"As a gun owner myself, as someone who's had to lower the flag nine times since the Vegas shooting, as someone with a child whose first week of school had to learn where to go in the case of an active shooter, gun owners want to make sure that families are kept safe," Bullock said after speaking at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox.

"If gun owners finally stand up — and the vast majority of Republican gun owners even think we need universal background checks — then I think we can make progress," said Bullock, whose 11-year-old nephew was killed in a school-yard shooting in 1994.

Bullock told the Soapbox crowd that spilled onto the Grand Concourse on the fairgrounds that Americans "can break that dark-money stranglehold of the NRA and address gun safety for all Americans."

"No one should be afraid to go their schools or an outing like this," said the governor, who spent Thursday exploring the state fair with his wife, Lisa, and three children.

► More: Democratic presidential candidates scramble plans to address gun violence on the Iowa caucus campaign trail + details on Saturday's "gun safety" forum

Bullock said Americans should expect more from the nation's president.

"We need to soundly reject the behavior that he's normalizing," Bullock said. "Never in my life did I think we would have a president who would give aid and comfort to our enemies abroad, and incites those who fight against decency at home."

"We expect more from our preschoolers now than the president of the United States," said the two-term governor, who is fighting to qualify for the third national debate.

"It's more than just that," he said. "It's rejecting the crony-capitalism he's created."

"Whoever tears down the stage tonight will pay more in taxes than Amazon, Chevron and 60 Fortune 500 companies," he said. "Folks expect more."

"We need to get rid of the corrupting influence of money," Bullock said.

Answering questions with reporters, Bullock declined to call the president a white supremacist as U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren did on Wednesday.

"There are white supremacists who think that Donald Trump has their back," Bullock said. "He does continue to use race, gender and geography to divide our country."

Bullock said farmers have told him the Trump administration's $28 billion in trade assistance won't "get us that market share back that we lost" in China.

"Donald Trump has taken 'America first' and made it 'America alone,'" Bullock said, adding that farmers have taken the brunt of the trade war, but it's going to "hit every American" with higher costs for consumer goods.

The president's plan to add tariffs on $300 billion in Chinese goods Sept. 1 is expected to result in higher prices for U.S. consumers.

Last year, the U.S. added tariffs on $250 billion in goods, with China retaliating with tariffs on American soybeans, pork and other farm goods.

Bullock said: When farmers lose hundreds of thousands of dollars with every Trump trade tweet, "it tells me this president isn't representing their needs. He's representing himself."

Touting his ability to work with a Republican legislature, Bullock told the Soapbox crowd he can make government work for Americans, tackling tough issues like climate change, making college affordable and improving health care.

Picking up his comments from the second debate, Bullock said Democrats should build on the Affordable Care Act, passed under former President Barack Obama, instead of repealing it to provide "Medicare for All."

He said building on the existing health-care system helps protect private insurance for millions of Americans that people.

"We can make health care accessible and affordable for all," he said. "But we don't have to disrupt 165 million people on private insurance."

Bullock said a retiree in Ottumwa told him "he didn't need a revolution. I just need someone to address ... the problems and challenges we have now."

The governor told the crowd: "We need to let people know we'll fight for their everyday lives."

Watch Steve Bullock's full speech on the Soapbox:

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture, the environment and energy for the Register. Reach her at deller@registermedia.com or 515-284-8457.

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