Previous research has shown how government actors navigate external pressures and utilize discursive strategies to craft persuasive arguments in response to policies that challenge national sovereignty and integrity. However, little is known about the discursive tactics mobilized when tackling coercive power. I explore how political actors engage in depoliticization and relativization discursively during the Troika’s intervention in Portugal. To analyse these discursive tactics, I draw on data from two key political arenas: the Portuguese national parliament and public discourse in the Portuguese media. The results show three different tactics that forge depoliticization: moral non-agency, moral heroism and moral imperative; all of them emphasize the extraordinary nature of the situation and the perceived impracticality of alternative solutions. Regarding relativization three tactics were identified: moral accusation, moral courage and moral duty; all of them denote actors’ ability to perform, portraying their competence to work for and in favour of the nation. This chapter demonstrates how government actors employ various tactics as moral alibis to shape and adjust their discourse. While the circumstances and measures remain unchanged, the focus lies on how government actors strategically regulate the tactics, tailoring them to the audience and the institutional backdrop shaping the discourse.