Editor's note: This column is part of Changing Minds, a USA TODAY Opinion series. Ahead of the November midterm elections, we talked with people who changed their political beliefs after years of seeing things a certain way. We'll publish their stories over the next few days.

Lewis Cantwell, who goes by his middle name Easton, is the Forrest Gump of an alternative universe.

Like the character portrayed by Tom Hanks in the eponymous movie, Cantwell tells an epic tale that starts with being born in a Southern town, includes a stint in the military, sees him repeatedly romantically stymied, features a remarkable foot journey, and puts him – unintentionally, he insists – in the middle of history.

Also like Gump, Cantwell remade himself through a series of different professions and business ventures – though his plot had less of Gump’s fortuitous falling up and more oscillating peaks and valleys – such as when federal prosecutors presented video evidence of him in the middle of a mob battling police at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. And when President Donald Trump pardoned him and more than a thousand others with convictions linked to the attempted election overthrow.

After regaining full citizenship rights, Cantwell opened a bar selling kava (a nonalcoholic Pacific Island drink). His new establishment is in Asheville, North Carolina – which might seem sensible, given residents’ reputation for wide and varied tastes. But along with restaurants, the city is also known for its progressive politics, and many declined to put out a welcome mat for a Jan. 6 participant.

The backlash came after a negative social media post highlighting his history. Cantwell was pilloried online, and his business was shunned, cutting his sales in half, he said, and forcing him to take on an additional job.

"What did you think would happen if you opened up a place up in Asheville? Next time think twice before storming the capitol," one May 14 Google review read, according to the Asheville Citizen Times.

Cantwell, now 41, calls participating in Jan. 6 “the biggest regret of my life." He also regrets supporting Trump and said he's changed his mind about the integrity of the 2020 election as well as the criminal justice system. While he still holds a mix of conservative and liberal beliefs, he said he no longer wears them on his sleeve.

"I'm not really political anymore," Cantwell said.

He said he tries to maintain that same atmosphere in his kava bar, where patrons – some of whom are his friends – range from far-left liberal to Trump-leaning conservative.

His past, though, continues to haunt him, and while Cantwell said he has tried to explain himself to his critics, he has no good venue to do it.

Cantwell's story includes growing up with 'Kennedy Democrats'

This is the story, as told to me over hours sitting at an outdoor bench (again, Forrest Gump), of the case he is trying to make for........

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