Problem
in the rhetorical analysis essay, by analyzing their argument(s), evidence, word choice, metaphors and/or writing style, you will make a case for the credibility or lack thereof in terms of the case they make. There is a difference here between whether you think that their argument is persuasive or not, AND whether the evidence and claims used to support the argument are ones that are credible. How might the writing work to favour the author's position against the truth, reality or legitimacy of those this person opposes?
Through your rhetorical analysis essay, identify the key factors that make it persuasive, or not, with its intended audience. This involves identifying particular keywords, metaphors (and related figures of speech: e.g. metonymy, synecdoche), means of persuasion (ethos, pathos, logos), style, invention (inventio - arguments, topoi, commonplaces etc.), arrangement (dispositio) and/or structure.
You should be able to determine the rhetor's (underlying) ideology and assumptions via a rhetorical analysis. What is the institutional or organisational situation of the rhetor - i.e. is the publication one in which the rhetor is an employee, a regular columnist or an one-off guest columnist?
What are the main arguments in this article that make it persuasive?