Emboldened by the Jedi’s
absence, warriors of the
evil FIRST ORDER have
risen from the shadows
of an Imperial fortress to
subjugate distant worlds
beyond the reach of the
New Republic Starfleet.
This is a clever way to explain the creation of the Resistance without it being that the New Republic just doesn’t want to do anything about it. And honestly I’m pretty sure it lines up with canon. The New Republic’s fleet can’t really go anywhere without leaving Hosnian defenseless. But that’s all the fault of their demilitarization efforts.