Maybe, but it wouldn't have taken much. r/wallstreetbets and /biz/ are full of comments and threads by retail investors who've seen the market manipulation going on for decades and have themselves lost money. Many of them knew the weaknesses/exposure of the short positions already. There's been smaller group exploits of the market in the past, but nothing of this scale or with this much potential to kick the big guys in the nuts.

However, the r/wallstreetbets logo looks a bit like Baron/Donald Trump.