Sometimes a demonstrative treats something absent or non-sensible as if fully visible to the hearer. This is claiming complete manifestness. The purpose is not to assert that the object is physically within view, but to present its importance or effects as irresistibly apparent.
For example, the consequences of an event may be so manifest that the speaker says “this” while speaking of an abstract matter. Its psychological presence becomes more important than actual spatial proximity.
Such rhetorical presentation should not be confused with an ordinary physical point or a literal assertion of nearness.