The basic problem is that TFA and TLJ had different ideas of what The First Order was.

TFA intended to it set up as a military junta. Leia and her rebel band were supposed to be the only ones in the government taking these space-jungle fanatics seriously. This semi worked; JJ screwed up by not making it clear that Starkiller was designed to take out the Republic so the Order could take over. If the FO had been much more fanatical about The Sith religion, that would’ve made it clearer they were a fringe cult, but still very dangerous. Again, JJ didn’t put ENOUGH details in, which is his common failing. JJ tried to rectify this in Rise, but by then it was far too late.

TLJ did not seem to build off that as much, and indeed Rian seemed to toss any of JJ’s unused ideas away. On screen, the Order in TLJ is pretty much the same as the Empire. A big army chasing the rebels. Are they in charge of the government? Are they all that one fleet chasing the last 3 rebel ships? Is Snoke the new leader of the galactic government? Did it matter that Starkiller was destroyed? Did Holdo just nuke the entire fleet? Does any of that even matter?

Obviously they were afraid of the vocal backlash the prequels got for too many political scenes…but to go from “too many” to “none other than 1 line” was a poor move by all parties.