When I was in high school, I accidentally discovered the way to shut this down.
Ask: "What do you want me to say?"
My junior year of high school, I failed geometry due to a molotov cocktail of undiagnosed dyscalculia, undiagnosed CPTSD, undiagnosed chronic severe depression, undiagnosed anxiety disorder, and undiagnosed ADHD. My brain was a fun place to be. My father was furious. He berated me for a solid 45 minutes when he found out, and when I tried to explain I was burnt out from trying to finish 4 years of high school in 3 (long story but I did succeed), he said I was making excuses and ultimately put me under lockdown for the entire summer.
Anyway, he continued to berate me every time he saw me for the next couple of days. I mostly took it in silence because I knew arguing would get me nowhere, but when we were in the car to go to my grandparents' place in the country for the 4th of July, I finally wearily asked, "What do you want me to say?"
"Nothing," he snapped. "There's nothing you can say."
And that was that. He didn't berate me for it again for the remainder of the summer. Because by asking him what he wanted me to say, I forced him to acknowledge that he wasn't trying to have a discussion. He was venting rage, trying to pick a fight I wasn't going to give him. And so there was no point in continuing to try.
So when someone demands a reason, and you give them the reason, and they call it an excuse and continue to yell, ask them point blank what they want you to say. They will probably fumble and not have a real answer. And that will probably end it.
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